Tuesday, April 26, 2011

N.C. Wyeth Action


I don't see early Action Comics non-Superman covers very often. I ran across this image of #8 for sale on the internet and of course instantly recognized where the pose was swiped from. The cover for Action Comics #8, dated January 1939, is by Fred Gaurdineer.

Below that is N.C. Wyeth's The Fight at Glen Falls, from his 1919 edition of Last of the Mohicans. Maybe everybody knew this. I just stumbled across it last night.




Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter Treat





Easter Egg Coloring, by Fritz Willis. Brown & Bigelow Calendar, April 1962.



Saturday, April 23, 2011

A New Acquisition

Without realizing it, in the last 18 months I've been accumulating a collection of mass-market, slightly cheesy, second-half of the twentieth-century illustration and book cover art. (If anyone can think of a better word for that genre, please let me know.)

If I'm going to collect art for mass-market books, you don't get much more mass-market than Reader's Digest Condensed Books.

This piece a I got few weeks ago is by Paul Grant. From looking at some other things of his for sale, I think I paid a very fair (if not cheap) price for this thing. Grant currently seems to be active in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, since I grew up in Michigan, it is nice to have that connection with the artist.

This watercolor is an illustration for Ernest K. Gann's book The Aviator. The painting was published in an edition of Best Sellers from Reader's Digest Condensed Books from 1981. That is the same volume the above left scan is from. The Aviator was previously published in Reader's Digest Condensed Books Vol. 133, 1981. I'm not sure if that volume had the illustrations or not. This book was made into a movie starring Christopher Reeve and Rosanna Arquette in 1985. Gann is noted for his novels about flying, he also authored The High and the Mighty, which was adapted as a movie starring John Wayne in 1954.

So, this painting is like 3 or 4 degrees from John Wayne. Or something like that. Take a look at a scan of the original below:




Friday, April 22, 2011

Pretty Girls


Paintings of pretty girls by Arthur Sarnoff.



Framed, no date.




Story illustration, no date.




Hanging Laundry, no date.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The Back Covers


Ads from the back covers of some 1940's comic books.















Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Classic Science Fiction Art


Some great old science fiction art...




"Palos of the Dog Star Pack." Cover for Famous Fantastic Mysteries, October 1942, art by Virgil Finlay.




Cover for Wonder Stories, February 1933, art by Frank R. Paul.




"The Buttoned Sky." Cover for Imagination magazine, art by Harold W. McCauley.




"Stellar Stories" by Hannes Bok, n.d.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Scooter Girl


Absolutely nothing to do with comic books, illustration art, or fantasy and science fiction art: but here's a great picture of a lady on a scooter from a 1969 issue of Playboy magazine. From the Playboy Fashion blog.




Thursday, April 7, 2011

Rigid Tools



Illustrations by George Petty for Rigid Tool Calendars, early 1950's.









Monday, April 4, 2011

FIGHT!




Fight Comics #36, February 1945.




Fight the Enemy #2, October 1966.




The Fight For the Gunboat, Mort Kunstler, c1962.




The Fight at Minowa, Dean Cornwel, 1947.




Custer's Last Fight
, 1950.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

FUN!





Fun Parade #35, Fall 1947. Cover art by Henry Boltinoff.




Film Fun
, October 1937. Cover art by Enoch Bolles.




Donald Duck Fun Book #1, 1953.




Circus of Fun #1, 1945.




1001 Hours of Fun, 1943.




Tom and Jerry Summer Fun #1, 1954.




Puzzle-Fun Comics #1, Spring 1946. Cover art by George Carlson.




Pictorial Movie Fun, September 1940. Cover art by Peter Driben.




More Fun Comics #46, August 1939. Cover art by Creig Flessel.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

LOVE!




Young Love #89, November 1971.




Untamed Love #1, January 1950. Cover art by Bill Ward.




True Love #1, January 1986. Cover art by Dave Stevens.




Our Love Story #4, April 1970. Cover art by John Buscema.




Modern Love #1, June 1949. Cover art by Al Feldstein.




Love Problems and Advice #4, December 1949. Cover art by Lee Elias.




DC Super Giant #21, January 1971.