Rafael Cortiella (1931-2019) - Chica estirada

Original watercolor work

Rafael Cortiella (1931-2019) was one of the great illustrators in this country, in addition to being a draftsman, painter, poster designer for advertising and cinema. His covers for romantic, western, horror, science fiction, crime, or adventure novels are spectacular, full of strength and dynamism. This great body of work was published in countries such as Spain, England, Germany, and France, and in almost every part of the world.

He began his artistic studies at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios de la Lonja in Barcelona. At about 17 years old he published his first work: the Don Triqui comic strips (Ed. Ameller), humorous adventures of a couple in small landscape-oriented notebooks. The comic strips had been started by Ayné. He then worked at the Símbolo publishing house, drawing comics such as Cobalto, Comando Roy or Clay Sutton, one of the titles that began to bring him popularity and in which he was the sole author.

During the 1950s and 1960s he diversified his work in publishers such as Toray, Ferma and Bruguera, creating western, adventure, war, or romantic comics. He also worked for Josep Toutain’s Selecciones Ilustradas, producing romantic comics for Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

Towards the 1960s he mainly devoted himself to illustration, creating covers for pocket-sized books and novels for the legendary Bruguera publishing house and for European markets through agencies. Among his other works are the covers for El Javanés, another sea hero by the illustrator Carrillo, as well as covers for the juvenile novels of Puck.

Cortiella moved temporarily to Paris to continue his art studies, and later to Brussels, where he continued them at the École supérieure des Arts de Bruxelles. He worked for the German publisher Bastei Verlag, illustrating the covers of the western character Lassiter, and received the Gold Medal of Fine Arts, awarded by Bastei Verlag, in recognition of his twelve-year career. His magnificent covers for novels and books on a wide range of themes are found scattered across hundreds of publications in many countries.

Cortiella was one of the founders and collaborators of the Club Dhin, formed by several illustrators to fight for author’s rights.

In the seventies he entered the world of painting, beginning a recognized career as a painter, especially paying homage to the female figure and exhibiting in several art galleries. He also ran for about 15 years a drawing and painting studio together with the fellow illustrator and painter Ángel Badía Camps.

In the eighties, with the arrival of video movies, Cortiella was in charge of illustrating hundreds of jackets for various films, signing as Joan. Other curious works of his were the illustrations for the toy boxes of Madelman. And indeed, as the advertising for this line of toys proclaimed—but extending it to drawing—Cortiella could draw anything.