Frank R. Paul was born in Austria, studied art in Vienna and Paris, immigrated to the U.S. in 1906, and went on to become one of the most influential science fiction artists of all time. After working as a graphic designer, Paul was hired to illustrated a science magazine in 1916. Paul went on to do hundreds of covers and interior illustrations for pulp magazines like Amazing Stories, Wonder Stories, and Planet Stories. In 2009, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
Born in Brooklyn, Stanley Borack served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and studied art at the Art Students League of New York under the G.I. Bill. He began his career as professional illustrator in 1950 and, up until he retired at the end of the 1970s, he did hundreds of covers for pulp magazines and paperback book publishers. Among collectors, he is especially known for the racy covers he did for Ted Mark’s Man From O.R.G.Y. series. After retirement, his spent his remaining years doing painting of the Old West for fine art galleries across the country.
Victor Olson was born in Connecticut and studied art at the Art Classic School of New York. He was a well-known painter, whose work currently hangs in the Smithsonian Institute Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. He was also an illustrator who painted several paperback covers for such publishers as Doubleday, Avon Books, MacFadden Books, Bantan and Monarch.
A sampling of his work can be found below.
The work below was all done by Raymond Johnson. Other than that he was active in the 1950s and 60 and he painted the covers for several paperback publishers, I haven’t been able to find much biographical information about this artist. His work will just have to speak for itself.
The Affairs of A Leading Lady
Fred Charles Rodewald was an illustrator who was active from 1926 until his death in 1955. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much biographical information about Rodewald. He was born in Hanover, Germany but moved, with his family, to New Jersey when he was six years old. He dropped out of school in 1920, worked in his family’s store, and apparently never had any formal artistic training before he started his career as an illustrator. In 1954, one year before his death, he wrote and illustrated a book entitled Commercial Art As A Business, a detailed guide to the practical concerns of earning a living as a commercial artist.
A small sampling of his work can be found below.
Born in Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th Century, the prolific illustrator Rudolph Belarski dropped out of school at the age of 12 and spent the next ten years working in the coal mines. During this time, he studied mail-order art courses at night from the International Correspondence School, Inc. of Scranton, PA. In 1922, he moved to New York City and studied at the Pratt Institute. Upon graduating in 1926, he taught at Pratt for 5 years. He started his career as a cover artist in 1935 and worked regularly until 1960, painting covers for both pulp magazines and paperback books. His greatest work may have been done during World War II, when he served with the USO and drew thousands of portrait sketches of hospitalized veterans in New York and London.
A small sampling of his pulp work can be found below.
Bad Girls by James Alfred Meese
I haven’t been able to find much biographical information about James Meese. He was an illustrator who painted the covers for several paperback book publishers in the 50s and 60s, mostly featuring tough guys and sultry women in dangerous situations. Check out a sampling of his work below.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Earle Bergey is considered to have been one of the most prolific and influential pulp fiction artists of the 20th Century. His most famous cover was the one he painted for Gentleman Prefer Blondes in 1948.
Check out that cover and some more of Earle Bergey’s work below!
Born in Kansas and educated at the Kansas City Art Institute, Robert Stanley was a prolific cover artist who worked for paperback publishers like Bantam, Dell, Eagle Books, Lancer Books, Lion Books, Popular Library, and Pyramid Books. He’s probably best known for the racy work he did for Beacon Books.
A small sampling of his work can be found below.
46 years ago today, Apollo 11’s lunar module successfully landed on the Moon and in the Sea of Tranquility. Soon afterwards, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the surface of the Moon.
Happy Moon Day from the Shattered Lens!
(photography by Erin Nicole)
Photograph by Erin Nicole
Photography by Erin Nicole
Through the Shattered Lens 