Art | Through the Shattered Lens

Other than that he was born in Pennsylvania and, like so many pulp era illustrators, studied in New York, I couldn’t find much information online about the artist Jerry Allison. (Most of the information I did find was about a different Jerry Allison, who was Buddy Holly’s drummer.) According to AskArt.com, Jerry Allison studied at the Woodstock School of the Arts Students League and, along with his work for the pulps, he also did illustrations for Reader’s Digest, General Electric, and NBC. After he retired from doing paperback covers, Allison concentrated on panting historical scene for the calendars put out by the Esso Corporation. (In the United States, Esso is now known as Exxon.) This is a case where the artist’s work will have to speak for itself.

Allison’s covers all contain the usual pulp elements of manly men, beautiful women, thirsty stares, and guns. One of the books below is called “The Lusty Men” and that’s a good way to describe most of the men who appear in Allison’s covers.

Considering that’s a fairly modern bra for a book that appears to take place in the Old West, there’s a chance that this final cover may not be historically accurate.

Born and, with the exception of four years spent in Texas, raised in Pennsylvania, Mark Schneider’s interest in art was evident from a young age. He started his formal training when he was 16 years old and, a year later, he would win an art contest sponsored by the magazine, Open Road For Boys. After graduating high school, he moved to New York City and studied at the Art Students League while seeking work as a commercial artist. He quickly found employment in the growing comic book industry, working on titles like Keen Detective Comics and Detective Eye Comics.

His career was interrupted by the attack on Pearl Harbor. He enlisted in the U.S. Army, saw combat in Europe and Northern Africa, and served through the entirety of World War II, reaching the rank of sergeant. After the war, he returned to New York and returned to work as a commercial illustrator. It was after the war that he painted the pulp covers for which he’s probably best known. Working for magazines with titles like Sir! For Me, Schneider’s covers often featured manly men and beautiful women in exotic settings or combat scenes.

Here’s a small sampling of his work: