October 23, 2002

2:16 PM

HannesBok - Virgil Finlay were the premier illustrators of fantasy and science fiction for the first three quarters of the XXth Century. Bok was influenced in both technique and theme through correspondence and visits with Maxfield Parrish. Finlay learned scratch board, hatching and stippling in high school and began his career by sending six unsolicited drawings to Farnsworth Wright, the editor of Weird Tales, and becoming an immediate hit with readers and writers alike. The two primary online collections of Bok are The Art Work of Hannes Bok, from Poetic's Pagan Pages, and this Hannes Bok cover gallery from from Richard Garrison's Art of the Fantastic. Finlay is more well represented, with these two galleries, provided by one indexxs, being the treasure trove......... --Step within the tent for the rest of Dr. Lao's presentation...
posted by y2karl (12 comments total)

Regarding Hannes Bok, there is Emil Petaja's eulogy, two drawings from Mike B's BookTourOnline. and Martian & Thiamin and Woman and Devils, courtesy of Serendipity Books.
Robert Weinberg has scans of original art by Bok and Finlay. Then, there's quite a bit of Finlay at Mike Bennett's Cordwainer Smith Illustrated Bibliography at Cordwainer Smith and his Remarkable Science Fiction , this James H. Schmitz site and my fave, The Illustrated Vance.
I could go on but it's tiring... But let me advise you to bookmark these two excellent sources--Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr.'s Biographies of the Illustrators at Bud Plant's Illustrated Books and Chris Mullen's An Alphabet Of Illustrators at the University of Brighton. Both of these are fabulous resources and true labors of love.
posted by y2karl at 2:18 PM on October 23, 2002

Wow, thanks for the links! Lots to explore here...
posted by Robot Johnny at 2:23 PM on October 23, 2002

Well, Hannes Bok and Virgil Finlay, to be sure... *sigh*
posted by y2karl at 2:23 PM on October 23, 2002

hey thanks, BotI is great, esp for frank frazetta. DEATH DEALER!

bud plant, keke :D
posted by kliuless at 2:34 PM on October 23, 2002

Nice collection of links.. plus the Cordwainer Smith biblio looks worth exploring in its own right...
posted by BT at 2:55 PM on October 23, 2002

Another outstanding post, Karl! Too bad the angelfire sites for
finlay are currently down....
posted by Lynsey at 3:59 PM on October 23, 2002

Oh, dear, no doubt thanks to me. I worried about this.
Well, if I may make a suggestion to those with the resources, that when again it is available--

Gentlemen, start your mirrors...

*and ladies, too, it goes without saying...
posted by y2karl at 4:14 PM on October 23, 2002

And, for the moment, here's the Virgil Finlay Gallery at VGREEN ORG. Here there are two Finlay illustrations for Robert Chambers' The Messenger. And here is the Virgil Finlay Page at Classic Fantasy Art. And last, Virgil Finlay's illustration for Sax Rohmer's Tchériapin.
posted by y2karl at 4:30 PM on October 23, 2002

Wunnaful, wunnaful...
posted by languagehat at 4:47 PM on October 23, 2002

y2karl, thanks for another cool post with a treasure trove of smashing links... the most exciting finds for me are the two sites with collections of illustrators. I will bookmark them to explore on some snowy day - oh wait, here in Boston, that would have been today!
posted by madamjujujive at 5:22 PM on October 23, 2002

Oh, one last thing - here is the, for the time being, Ultimate Virgil Finlay Pulp Cover Gallery, courtesy Google, save for the first few on the page before, where Abercrombie Station and Chowell's Chickens abound.
posted by y2karl at 9:00 PM on October 23, 2002

Triffick! Thanks y2karl
posted by Tarrama at 12:00 AM on October 24, 2002