Monday, May 10, 2010

...and, we're back

Wow. It has been an incredibly long time since my last post, and in truth, I'm still pulling together this week's info. The good news, is that there is news. We are just about at a point where I can announce some of the new titles from the upcoming season of releases at Dover, and there are a few titles that will be of interest to fans of vintage illustration. There is almost always a title on every biannual list that deserves mention, but this season is especially strong for friends of this area of art. I'm taking the unusual route of making a post without some accompanying images to just say- hang in there, I'll be right with you— and to acknowledge a difficult loss for illustration fans.

News came to me this evening of the passing of Frank Frazetta. If there was an artist alive who was the bridge between the Golden Age of illustration, and today's fantastic imagery, it was Frazetta. The splash his work made was so big, it was felt at every edge of the pond. His definitive images of Robert Howard characters will forever bear his moody colors, and his deep, dark shadows. His imagery was sword-and-sorcery. Every 40 or 50-something year old fantasy illustrator working today owes something to Frank Frazetta, for the influence he had early on, and continues to have today. He will be remembered as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, maybe not tomorrow, but time will bear this out. Thanks for everything, Mr. Frazetta.

Be back in a day or three with this week's regular post. —Jeff

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

spell check no help - I can't bear it

Jeff A. Menges said...

You know, I had it right, and changed it last night...was better as it was, and so it will be again...