James Dietz- Art for WW2 Book Covers

[Pete Hill]

G'Day, forumers,

I am a huge fan of James Dietz and I own a copy of his large book of his paintings of Second World War subjects ("Portraits of Combat") that I was lucky enough to purchase a few years ago.
However as comprehensive a collection of his WW2 paintings it was, there were a handful that didn't make the book. (Not a criticism of the book, it was perfectly understandable that they couldn't cram them all into there!).
I have tracked some of them down (that is, the ones that aren't included in the book).
They were all used as cover-art for the Jove Military History paperback series that were published during the 1980s. I own a few of them but the ones I have have covers already in the book. These ones have covers that aren't included in the book.
Sorry for the poor reproductions, I don't actually own these books. I downloaded the images off websites that were selling second-hand (used) copies of them (mostly eBay).
Enjoy!
My favourite is the cover for "The Battle For Moscow". The scene remains me of Custer's Last Stand!
Dietz would have been under some restrictions for these covers. Namely he had to cram a lot of detail into an image that would fit on the cover of a book and one side of the painting had to be left less busy so as to fit the book's reverse-side blurb (summary). Also, there had to be loads of drama, striking tones and strong colours.
I think Dietz has succeeded brilliantly!












More to come. Pete

[Pete Hill]

Here's some more. Pete









The cover for the Robert Jackson book "Dunkirk" was featured in the book but the version featured did not include the Stuka dive-bomber seen on the version shown here.
Pete

[Kilian]

thats off topic...