J. J. Sterling and J. O. Sterling were two pen-names occasionally used by Paul Stahr between the years 1930 and 1935 when he painted covers for pulp magazines from Munsey Publications, such as All-Story Love, Detective Fiction Weekly, and Argosy Weekly.
There were several typical motives for pulp artists to use pen-names, such as a desire to preserve one's reputation for higher-paying assignments, conflicts of interest between rival publishers, avoidance of income tax or alimony payments, but sometimes a pen-name was used because the editor wanted to give readers the impression of employing a greater variety of talented artists. Since Paul Stahr had long been a standard cover artist at Munsey Publications, this last reason seems the most likely motive for signing some work with a pen-name.
© David Saunders 2019 |
