Eugene Hastain Dustwrapper Artist
Eugene Hastain created some of the most evocative jacket artwork of the Golden Age period
We would like to bring you a lot of background information about this illustrator but sadly his past is not well documented - something we would very much like to redress.
Tantalizingly we were contacted some time ago through another one of our sites by a family member who had some fabulous information. Hopefully she will get back in touch with further details and permission to publish the information for posterity.
Currently I can say he had a very colourful life which appeared to start at a remarkably young age !
Given the nature of this site it’s his dust jacket artwork we tend to dwell on, such classics as this
Death Took a Publisher 1936
There are many others and picking favourites is a matter of some difficulty, though Murder Mars the Tour takes some beating. He had a unique style, quite unmistakable, though thankfully his work is generally signed and credited by the publisher, unlike so many other great artists who remain frustratingly anonymous.
He also worked as an artist outside our narrow window of view, we came across image this which was an oil on canvas painted in 1914 and commissioned by Princess Mary for a charitable project
Returning to his mystery work, he did jackets for the likes of Mary Fitt, Leslie Charteris, Anthony Berkeley, R Austin Freeman and Patricia Wentworth amongst others.
If you have any information please do let us know, or if you know of any book covers by this artist once again please leave a comment or question below.
damien said,
July 7, 2008 @ 11:14 am
Hiya,
I’m wondering if you’ve found any of the history of Eugene Hastain? There are some hints that he might be related to a friend that i have been doing family history research for, so I’m trying to get more information
Rod said,
July 7, 2008 @ 11:25 am
Hi Damien
nothing like I’d like to find out I’m afraid. I was contacted by a relative via another site of mine Classic Crime Fiction but sadly all the details she said she would put together never came to fruition
Regards
Rod
simone said,
August 16, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
Hi. My husband is Eugenes grandson. This very interesting!!
Rod said,
August 16, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
Hi Simone
thanks for the comment, any family info that might otherwise be lost would be great if you felt you could or would want to share it.
EH is still very popular and it seems a shame that more is not known about him
Regards
Rod
Lesley Hastain said,
November 5, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
I was just ‘googling’ myself(to find out how someone from my past started emailing me!)and here was this interesting piece about my grandfather Eugene. The French side of the Hastains are fast dwindling in numbers but I can share what I know with anyone who is interested - Simone I would love to know who your husband is, because we are certainly related!
simone said,
May 9, 2009 @ 6:39 pm
Hi Lesley…Im guessing if we r related its by marriage only. Damien up there that wrote a message could be my nephew. My husbands name is Darren Hastain. He is the son of David (brian) Hastain. The Hastain family tree is so very interesting. It goes on and on… I know for sure that the illustrator Eugiene was my husbands grandfather (but a broken marriage made relations harder im guessing). Darren my husband drew a picture wen he was very young of a sea sceen and my goodness its so similar to the one Eugiene had done, in the way it was drawn!!!!! My son is also very artistic, as is my daughter, the younger one we will see bless her!!!!!!
Damien said,
September 30, 2009 @ 9:13 am
Hi
My friend that I am hunting for is the great granddaughter of one of Eugene’s brothers, Albert Edward, who was also a bit, um, secretive about his life. Please feel free to email me at eccles@arsimagica.net about this, we are still chasing.