Rudolf Stuessi:   Reichstag nach Mitternacht.
Click image to enlarge.

I met Rudy Stuessi several times when I worked in Berlin. He is a Swiss Canadian, now living and working in Toronto, but he came regularly to Berlin during the 1990s to paint in his remarkable style the unusual and arresting cityscapes which were everywhere in Berlin during those years. He also had regular shows and a lovely Berlin Gallery - Galerie Taube - on Pariserstrasse. (For Stuessi click on Künstler der Gallerie).

I always enjoyed Rudy Stuessi's vision of people and places and his extraordinary skill at translating that vision into paintings.

When the process of publishing The Berlin Assignment was well underway and the question of the cover design came up, I wondered then whether Rudy might have done a painting which would match the Berlin mood and atmosphere which I had tried to create in the novel. I began looking at his Berlin paintings available online and the moment I saw Reichstag nach Mitternacht, I knew it was the one to use for the cover.

It is a powerful image of the Reichstag with a haunting exterior and a mysterious light (that of an enlightenment?) radiating out from deep within. It captures well how Berlin affected many people through the years I lived there.

For more fine paintings by Stuessi, explore his website:   http://www.rudolfstussi.com/