Born in Oxford, New York, Richard Lillis served in World War I and worked as a salesman at his family’s store before he relocated to New York City and took classes with the Art Students League. He began his illustrating career around 1928 and is responsible for some of the most definitive tough guy covers of the pulp era.
Here’s a small sampling of the work of Richard Lillis.
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by Robert McGinnis
Sean Connery was the best Bond.
by Clinton Brown
Physical Culture was a magazine that ran from 1899 to 1951. It was founded by a man named Bernarr Macfadden, who used the magazine to promote body building and his theories on nutrition. Macfadden was a big believer in and advocate for fasting or, as some of us call it today, anorexia. Here’s a picture of him being visited by President Franklin D. Roosevelt:
And below is a small sampling of the body-obsessed covers of Physical Culture:
Artist Unknown
by John Drew
Artist Unknown
Artist Unknown
By Arthur Ray McCowen
by Clinton Brown
by Jay Weaver
by Jay Weaver
by Jay Weaver
by John Drew
Artist Unknown
by Victor Olson
Someone’s not being very subtle.
Worlds of Fantasy was a science fiction pulp magazine that ran for 14 issues, from 1950 to 1954. It doesn’t appear to have been a huge success during its initial run but it lives on due its memorable covers.
Here’s a sampling of the Worlds of Fantasy.
by Gerald Facey
by Gerald Facey
by Gerald Facey
by Norman Light
by Gordon Davies
Artist Unknown
by Ron Embleton
Artist Unknown
Artist Unknown
The Sky On Election Day (by Erin Nicole)
To all of my fellow Texans, don’t forget to vote today in the run-offs! Curtesy of the pulps, here’s a little extra inspiration to get you down to your polling place!
By Emmett Watson
Unknown Artist
By Paul Rader
By Robert Bonfils
Unknown Artist
Unknown Artist
by Jerome Rozen
This is from World War II.
One day in 2023, I stepped out in my backyard with my camera. I was just planning on taking a picture of some storm damage and maybe the oak tree in our backyard. Instead, I immediately spotted a little squirrel running along the chain link fence that separated our yard from our neighbor’s. He was moving like he had some place to be but, as soon as he saw me and my camera, he stopped. He stared at me, as if he saying, “Well, hurry up and take your picture.”
I snapped his picture and then I said, “Thank you.”
Upon hearing my thanks, he immediately went on his way, running down the length of the fence and then jumping into a nearby tree.
I think about that squirrel sometimes. This is Texas. We have a lot of squirrels that run through the backyard and living in the neighborhood tries. But it’s hard for me to think of one that had made a great impression than this one. Squirrels don’t have a long lifespan but I like to think that he’s still out there and he’s still posing for anyone with a camera.
Previous Moments:
Kirk Wilson is a mystery man. It is known that he was born in Indiana. He graduated high school in 1930. He never attended college and it appears that he may have been as self-taught artist. He appears to have started his career as an illustrator in the late 1930s and he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Kirk Wilson died at the age of 59 in Manhattan. He left behind a gallery of pulp greatness and is especially remembered for his western covers.
Here’s a sampling of the work of Kirk Wilson:
(by John Moore)
It can be difficult to know how to observe Memorial Day, especially in these times when people are so divided and there are so many voices out there that are promoting cynicism and apathy. For me, though, these images sum up what Memorial Day is all about. It’s not day for celebrating war. It’s a day for honoring those who lost their lives fighting for this country and it’s a day to hope for peace. It’s a day to give thanks and to pledge that their sacrifice will not have been in vain.
by Erin Nicole
Through the Shattered Lens 