The many sides of Sandy Kossin

Poster art by Sandy Kossin for "Don't Drink the Water". A prime example of the poster being far better than the film. When Woody Allen finally saw this film version adapted from his play, he vowed to never again let Hollywood "adapt" any of his work.

Sanford (Sandy) Kossin is an illustrator I've admired for many years, ever since I first saw his work on the cover of the paperback edition of my dad's play "Steambath". Kossin's signature tended to blend into his work, so it wasn't till several years later that I connected the dots and realized he was the same talented artist that created some of my favorite film poster images and paperback covers. The amazing thing about his work was his deft ability to shift styles, depending on the particular assignment. He had the rare talent to create stunning, vivid, sometimes intensely realistic images, at the same time also creating fun/funny delightful cartoony images. An "Illustrator's illustrator". As one renowned artist once summed him up: "There are many Sandy Kossins". Here are some of my favorite samples of his work, mostly from the sixties & seventies, when his artwork was omnipresent.

many of the images, mainly of Sandy's paperback book covers, came from this flickr set:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/grrl8trax/sets/72157602949290520

photo of Sandy Kossin in 2014 by Ken Farrell

1969 interview with Sandy Kossin for American Artist magazine

http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.ca/

Kossin was one of he most in-demand paperback cover artists of the sixties. heres some of his most stunning covers.

Perhaps Kossin's most well known work was illustrating the invasion of the Bay of Pigs for LIFE magazine in 1963, including the cover.

Poster art for the film satire: "Oh! What a Lovely War"

"Beckett"

foreign poster by Kossin

"The Devil's Brigade"

Paperback cover art by Kossin for "The President I Almost Was" by "Mrs. Yetta Bronstein",
who had been a write-in candidate for president and
actually received enough votes to warrant a book deal.

Poster art for the legendary Clint Eastwood Spaghetti western "Hang 'Em High"

The Train

Cover art for the 1969 movie tie-in paperback

Cover for the 1972 bantam paperback edition of "Steambath". Kossin created this wraparound cover art, and when PBS presented a production of Steambath in 1973, the art (in B&W, with a black bar over her boobs) was used in Hollywood trade publications and newspapers to advertise the show (scroll down).

Steambath Back cover

Kossin poster art for: "Hannibal Brooks". Yes, there once was a day when Michael J. Pollard actually starred in films!

Kossin poster art for "Cold Turkey"

Closer detail

Second version by Kossin

SK poster art for What's Up, Doc?

More realistic Kossin paperback covers.

Add for the 1973 TV production of Steambath using Kossin's earlier paperback artwork.

Poster art for Billy Wilder's poorly received Jack Lemmon comedy: "Avanti!" To this day I haven't seen this film, but always loved his MAD-like poster art.

Some hip, cool Kossin paperback covers from the seventies.

And you thought M*A*S*H only took place in Korea? Think again. In the mid-seventies, Kossin illustrated the covers for a series of M*A*S*H paperbacks, where "M*A*S*H", somehow took to the road for a series of "zany adventures".

Even though M*A*S*H was filmed in Hollywood, they even got to visit Hollywood!

Kossin illustrated just a few assignments for MAD magazine. Here are 2 spreads from the seventies. (click to enlarge)

Kossin poster art from 1975. Jack Rickard also created a poster image for this film.

2 1970's humorous hardcover book covers by Sandy Kossin.

another foreign film poster by Kossin

 film poster art created by Sandy Kossin, 1980

Sandy Kossin posed in 1969. He's alive and well, still working and teaching illustration near his home on Long Island.

Here's a recent photo of Sandy and his good friend Mike Lynch.