How Frank Paul’s Sci-Fi Art Went From Pulp Covers To Forrest J. Ackerman’s Walls
This article is more than 2 years old
One of the things I love most about the golden age of science fiction is the cover art that adorned such iconic publications as Amazing Stories and Astounding Science-Fiction. Long before man set foot on the moon and we realized just how difficult exploring space was going to be, pulp covers gave us visions of strange alien vistas and the fantastic vessels that would take us there. One of the talents behind some of that iconic art was Frank R. Paul, dubbed by The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction as the “father of modern SF illustration.” Paul’s covers for Amazing Stories and other such publications were, well, amazing.
We’ve featured Frank Paul’s wonderful art on GFR before, and you can see tons of his stuff right here, with galleries of images from Amazing Stories, Science Wonder Stories, and others. Growing up in the heart of science fiction’s Golden Age, it’s no surprise that legendary genre personality Forrest “Forry” Ackerman — who founded the Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and first coined the “sci-fi” shorthand — loved Paul’s work. According to Paul aficionado Frank Wu, Ackerman at one point commissioned Polish artist Anton Brzezinski to paint huge, colorful recreations of some of Paul’s iconic images. Thanks to the accurately named Stuff to Blow Your Mind, now we can all see some of Brzezinski’s Paul tributes without having to arrange a tour of the so-called “Ackermansion.”
And finally, here are a couple where you can compare Paul’s original art to Brzezinski’s recreations.
