COVER STORY: The Art of American Magazine...

COVER STORY: The Art of American Magazine Covers 1900-1950 by Steven Heller & Louise Fili (Chronicle: $18.95, 144 pp., paperback original). Heller and Fili have assembled a colorful survey of illustrations from major periodicals. The style of the drawings and paintings that graced these covers ranges from the realistic Americana of James Montgomery Flagg to the abstract graphics of Fernand Leger and the cartoons of John Held Jr.

The authors concentrate a bit too much on the ‘30s, but offer an agreeable introduction to some of the finest American illustrators.