Covering Romance: A Journey to John Ennis's Art Exhibit
How far will I go to get the clinch?
Clutch your bodice, pack your bag, and come along on a whirlwind 36-hour journey through 6 different states to view and procure romance novel cover art.
If you’d like the audio version of this journey, check out episode 153!
Will travel for romance novel cover art
It’s not often that we romance readers have the opportunity to attend an exhibition of romance novel cover art, so when I heard that John Ennis’s art would be on display a mere 6 states away, I immediately started planning my trip and reserved tickets for the opening night reception.
Of course I also needed to line up a traveling companion, and conveniently Dame Jodie Slaughter was available to fly in from Kentucky.
Intro to John Ennis & the Covering Romance Exhibition
Before we get too far down the road of this journey, here’s a brief introduction to John Ennis and this exhibition:
Covering Romance features a collection of over 150 oil illustrations by award winning artist John Ennis, originally published as paperback romance novels.
A Bucks County native, Ennis began his first art career as a book cover illustrator in the early 1980s in New York City, specializing in cover art for romance novels. These original oil paintings are being seen for the first time after being sequestered in the artist's studio for 30 years. Celebrated for his mastery in capturing human emotions on canvas, Ennis brought these love stories to life.
His 20 year illustration career ended in the early 2000s when he moved on to establish himself as a fine artist and eventually a portrait artist. He earned numerous national awards for his figurative paintings and commissioned portraits. His work has been celebrated in galleries and private collections worldwide, and his emotive masterpieces continue to inspire.
Find out more at bio.site/johnennisart.
As I prepared for this trip, I checked out my shelves to see if I had any books with Ennis’s artwork on it. I did find one, and I brought it with me on the trip, hoping to view it alongside the original.
It’s a Zebra romance called Creole Temptress by Lauren Wilde — I, er, haven’t read it. I’ll come back to this, but please bear in mind that while I believe these paintings are beautiful works of art and an important part of romance history, my interest is in no way an endorsement of the books or subject matter depicted.
(Spoiler alert: I found it.)
Arriving at Covering Romance
Our journey begins. Jodie and I catch the Amtrak Northeast Regional from Boston and begin rolling at breakneck pace through Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and finally, New Jersey.
After getting to our hotel and snazzing up, we head over the Pennsylvania border to the Artists of Yardley Art Center. Here are Jodie’s first impressions:
We walk in the door. I am surrounded by clinch covers. It is lush. It is colorful. It is gorgeous.
I think my first thought was I was impressed at the sheer number of them, and then realizing that there was an upstairs and realizing that there were even more.
-Dame Jodie Slaughter
I’ll be honest: I went into a bit of a fugue state as my mind and body dedicated all available resources to deciding which of the pieces I wanted to buy, and then talking to people, so while I basked in the artwork I didn’t take nearly enough photos of the entire scene.
Thankfully, others had the foresight to take photos of the gallery walls.
John Ennis’s Remarks
John Ennis: Welcome, and I'm just so flattered that all of you came out to see the show. I've had these paintings for 30 years sequestered away in Joanne's studio, and so she's been kind of bugging me to do something about it. Anne and Amy approached me last year with the idea that I should have a legacy show.
They felt that it was sad that my career was disappearing into obscurity, and we should do something about it. And so the idea came from Joanne wanting to get rid of these paintings, and Amy wanting to give me a legacy show.
As a lot of you would know, I've had a fine art career the last 20 years I've been doing gallery painting, but mostly I've been doing portrait painting.
And if I'm being honest, I was trying to keep my history with romance illustration kind of under the covers, and maybe this was not a legitimate fear, but I was a little worried that people like the president of Harvard would not think that me painting Fabio was the right guy for the job, so I kind of kept that on the QT. But I retired from portrait painting a couple years ago, and now I'm out of the closet. And so are my paintings.
Anyway, this particular period of my career was a great time of my life. I was young and I was afraid and I was unsure whether I was ever going to be successful as an artist. And then I started to get this commissioned work. And then when I started to see these book covers on the bookshelves, I felt like I'd gotten a ticket into the major leagues.
I just couldn't believe that this was really happening. And it went on for a long time. I did these oil paintings, which was how I was trained. I did that for 12 years. And then I switched in 1994 to doing digital illustration. I did another thousand book covers digitally.
It was a great career. I left around 2001 to other things, but I'm so happy that you're all here to share it with me. And thank you for coming.
Later during the door prize drawing he added: “I fell in love with them all over again. I'd forgotten how much I loved what they were doing back then, and how beautiful they were.”
Meeting People at Covering Romance
As one can imagine, the event attracted some romance community people in addition to the local art community.
Here are excerpts from interviews at the event — you can
listen to the full interview in episode 153 of Shelf Love.
First up, meet Fin, owner of Wolfe and Kron Books.
Fin: I've been a sci fi reader for a very long time specifically sci fi, not fantasy, because I was really interested in that hard science space and I didn't like the sort of frivolity that I saw in fantasy, and likewise that was another reason that I didn't read romance until I did.
And a lot of the sort of dismissiveness that I had toward fantasy was a similar reason for romance, where it was like, oh, it's just blah blah, no substance to it books and then I read some and I am obsessed with the space that romance holds in, how it has helped women deal with their plight.
And helping them understand through reading about it in a book, Oh, I'm not the only one. I'm not alone. This isn't my fault. And maybe giving them a way to cope with a situation that they don't have any way to get out of, but finding a way through it.
And I think it's really beautiful and amazing the way that romance authors have offered that up to their readers.
Andrea Martucci: How far did you travel to come to this event?
Fin: Not very far, it was a 45 minute drive.
Andrea Martucci: Are you purchasing any artwork tonight?
Fin: I am. I'm purchasing a stunning piece. Moonlight Rhapsody which was written by Nancy Kane, a futuristic romance, and it has one of my favorite male models on the cover, or in the painting.
I cannot remember his name right now, so you're going to have to for give me on that, but I know that Mary Lynne would be able to tell us.
Andrea Martucci: He's the hot one.
Fin: Yes, he is the hot one. He also has an amazing range of characters and once you've spotted his face, you can't unsee it and he just amazingly goofy looks on some covers or very serious ones and it's fun to track him through his career.
Andrea Martucci: Do you think you're gonna read this book now that you're buying the cover?
Fin: Oh, definitely. I'm pretty sure I've got a copy at the store.
Mary Lynne Nielsen: My name is Mary Lynn Nielsen. I'm a romance reader and have been for over 45 years.
Andrea Martucci: And you also write about romance, do you not?
Mary Lynne Nielsen: I do write about romance, primarily on Instagram and also through a blog that I have.
In my opinion, the genre is something that deserves study, analysis, criticism to recognize the value that it brings to the broad community that reads it.
Andrea Martucci: So how far did you travel to come to this event?
Mary Lynne Nielsen: This, for me was about an hour 15 minute drive. But I have with me a friend who I've made on Instagram who I met coming here, it's just for this who came in from Duluth, Minnesota, over a thousand miles. When the program is right it draws it.
Andrea Martucci: Now, Mary Lynne, I know you have been diving deep into John Ennis artwork on your website recently. What thoughts do you have on his style and his oeuvre?
Mary Lynne Nielsen: I think the interesting thing about John is that there are several hallmarks to what he does. There is a cleanliness to his work. His work is sleek, clean, precise. You do not get the blurring of lines or the suggestion of an image. Everything in an Ennis picture is given to you exactly with precision and with that kind of dedicated perfection that makes it stand out.
Some of the elements he uses for that particularly are color. John's color is unlike anyone else's color. His color is bright, vibrant. It's stands out.
Many times when you see a cover, you're going to see, oh, this cover's red. Let's have a red background and a red dress and red this, red sheets on the bed.
And what you have on an Ennis cover can be eight to ten colors on the cover, and yet it works. You can see a cover that starts with extreme hot yellows and oranges, and yet on its other side is lavenders and pastels, and you can see that even in this room that we have this in.
Huge element, his hair. His hair has a life of its own. The way he uses highlights and shading, his hair has dimension, it has weight, it has heft. You can practically feel it coming off of the page on you. These are very distinct elements to Ennis's art that helps any reader recognize when they look at a book cover that's a John Ennis piece.
Andrea Martucci: Mary Lynne, did you purchase any art tonight?
Mary Lynne Nielsen: I'm about to. I have a couple things set aside.
Nisha Sharma: I'm here because I'm a romance novelist, and I feel like it's important to support the artists that have been a part of our storytelling journey and our history. And I also think it's important to, as part of like my civic duty, to engage in romance community events like this. So that's why I'm here.
Andrea Martucci: How far did you travel to come to this event?
Nisha Sharma: Five minutes.
Andrea Martucci: Wow. Nisha, have you purchased any art tonight?
Nisha Sharma: I haven't, and that's because at the time that John Ennis was covering romance novels with his wonderful portraits, a lot of the stories that he was painting for was centered around glorifying colonizers.
And as much as I appreciate the work and the part in the history that, you know, of history that he has, I'm not putting a colonizer on my wall as a woman of color.
Jodie Slaughter: Jodie Slaughter does agree.
Andrea Martucci: Would you put a pirate on your wall?
Nisha Sharma: It depends if the pirate is also a colonizer.
Jodie Slaughter: A black one, maybe. A black one, a brown one, Indo Caribbean, Afro Caribbean.
Andrea Martucci: So an Indo Caribbean colonizer?
Jodie Slaughter: No, no, No. Indo Caribbean pirate. Non colonizer.
Andrea Martucci: Gotcha,
Nisha Sharma: Yeah. I prefer like rebel pirates over colonizer pirates.
Jodie Slaughter: Yeah.
Andrea Martucci: I think pirates by definition don't colonize because they only inhabit the seven seas.
Nisha Sharma: It depends on the story you're reading because quite a few of the ones in our romance history are like dukes in disguise who are rejecting their place as like the second son and they can then like put back on their wonderful uniforms and resume their place in society. You know because money solves everything. Money is the deus ex machina in a lot of these historical romances with pirates.
Andrea Martucci: You heard it here first: money solves everything.
Recovering from Covering Romance
After a whirlwind of meeting new people and seeing a few familiar faces (including Emma from Reformed Rakes!1), it was time to go.
Also Jodie and I had not eaten dinner and we were a little lightheaded from hunger.
But remember how I said I was also there to buy art?
Touch of Fire by Emily Carmichael (with Fabio!)
This was the first book cover that I used Fabio on, and I wasn't smart enough to expose his chest, I stuck him behind the woman and when I brought it into the publisher, I think this was Warner Books, the female art director, her response was, oh my god, he's so handsome.
So I decided I'd be using Fabio from now on.
—John Ennis
Fabio — come on, I had to.
The Windflower by Laura London (1989 edition)
I really like ships. Also Laura London, aka Tom and Sharon Curtis, is/are great.
Knight of a Trillion Stars by Dara Joy (1995)
I like Dara Joy because she’s bonkers. My husband actually chose this one.
My Spellbound Heart (anthology 1994)
Sea Mistress by Candace McCarthy (1993)
As I said…I really like ships. Look at the way he’s holding on to that rope…
A Perfect Arrangement by Ellen Rawlings (1992)
100% purchased because of the cat.
Can’t wait to get these all framed and on my walls! I’m still pinching myself — it’s hard to believe this beautiful art is mine to enjoy.
I plan on getting all the books I don’t already have and will read them — given the descriptions for some of these, I know I’m going to find problematic scenarios and/or books that aren’t my jam. This is par for the course when studying romance!
Interested in John Ennis’s Art?
While there’s still technically one more day for you to visit the exhibit, if you’re not able to make it you should definitely check out John Ennis’s Instagram (for more pictures) and reach out to him if you’re interested in purchasing art that’s still available. I believe he’s offering to ship within the US. At the exhibit, paintings were priced between $250 and $400.
Shelf Love Merch
I created a merch store on Threadless a long time ago and then literally told nobody. So… telling you now. :)
Stickers! Notebooks! Apparel! Mugs!
My mug is super conveniently in the dishwasher for this impromptu photo shoot. Boo.
I tried to convince Emma that we should create some manufactured “rivaling romance podcasts” storyline, but she refused. Sigh. Where’s the sense of drama?! Check out her Substack, Restorative Romance, or Reformed Rakes. You can also listen to the collab episode we did on Mistress of Mellyn.
What happened to Jodie? After visiting for a few days, she returned home. It was sad to see her go. We’ll always have Yardley…
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Does anyone know the book title that features the painting with the lady in the reddish orange dress, with black hair? It's not labeled and I can't find it anywhere. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing about this. I love the art!