When I was a kid, my favorite SF artists were Emsh, Freas, and Finlay. I have a terrible eye, but I could recognize their work easily, and I liked all of it. Looking at the paintings in this book brought back a flood of memories, and I was surprised at how many of them I recognized instantly. I knew which magazines the cover paintings had appeared on without having to look at the comments about them, and I even remembered where a lot of the interiors appeared. I guess that some things make a huge impression on you when you're young.While this book is worth its price just for the artwork alone, it's also a biography of Ed and Carol Emshwiller, and it goes into Ed's films as well as his magazine work. So there are lots of snippets from the films as well. Carol's contributions to the films are mentioned, but it's her stories that most people will remember. I can still remember reading "Pelt" many years ago in F&SF.
This is a book. Of particular interest to me were the paintings for covers that I'd never seen, the ones on the men's sweat mags and the mystery mags. You need a copy if you're a fan of either Emshwiller or of both of them. Great stuff.
5 comments:
I'm surprised, Bill...you never bought MERCURY MYSTERY in its last years or the other relevant titles? Tough to find, or no interest in CF as a youngster?
Anybody know if Freas ever recovered his stolen paintings?
I do have some of the Mercury Mystery issues, but only a few. None at all of the sweat mags.
Don't know about Freas' stolen paintings. I met and interviewed him once. A nice guy.
st did a seach and no answer but it was 1997... where has the time went. Forgot he died in 2005, also. Where has my memory gone.
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