Richard Bernstein Starmaker: Andy Warhol's Cover Artist

An exploration of the work by American artist Richard Bernstein that celebrates his larger-than-life portraits for the covers of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, as well as his visually arresting fine art, movie posters, and album covers created from the mid-1960s to the 1990s.

Richard Bernstein, a fixture at Studio 54 and with fashion and art insiders, captured the allure of the disco era through his iconic hyper-colored graphic portraits of superstars for the covers of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Warhol’s influence on Bernstein’s bold, playful, and graphic artwork is evident, and it was often thought that Warhol created the covers himself. Yet it was Bernstein, an American artist and art director, whose distinctive craft of retouching photographs with pastels, stencils, and airbrushing monumentalized his subjects into dazzling pop-art incarnations—sexy, captivating, and forever young.

The book features his legendary Interview covers of Madonna, Grace Jones, Mick Jagger, Cher, Calvin Klein, Michael Jackson, and Aretha Franklin, and Bernstein’s rarely seen fine artwork, album covers, and editorial work for Time, Vogue Italia, New York Magazine, and Playboy, complete with intimate anecdotes and interviews with his closest friends and collaborators. This volume is an essential addition to any fashion, pop culture, style, or art lover’s library.

By Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha