FRAZETTA: KING OF PAINT
Chapter 1: 1962/1963
FRAZETTA: KING OF PAINT is designed to be the first fully comprehensive and in-depth academic examination of all the paintings that Frank Frazetta has repainted over the years, (and there are a LOT of them!). I am going to cover these paintings chronologically by the year that they were FIRST painted rather than the year (or years) they were REPAINTED. I have a few practical reasons for this strategy. First we have fully documented evidence when Frazetta painted all of his first version original paintings that were soon after published as book or magazine covers. What we do NOT know for sure is exactly when Frazetta repainted some of these paintings. Further complicating matters is the fact that many of these re-paintings were repainted multiple times, sometimes in totally different calendar years.
TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN (1962) (watercolor) / TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN (1972/1974) (oil repainting)
Frazetta's "try-out" painting for Tarzan and the Ant Men. Watercolor on board.
The first repainting I am covering here has an unusually complex backstory for a Frazetta repainting and is also an interesting slice of Frazetta history coming at a crucial turning point in his art career. Tarzan and The Ant Men was painted as a sort of "try-out" to show the editorial department at Ace Books the general idea of what a Frazetta/Tarzan cover painting would look like. Ace never used this painting as an actual book cover, and it is highly doubtful that they gave Frazetta any financial compensation for the time and effort he put into it. On the plus side, he was able to retain the original art for this watercolor painting, which is more than can be said for the originals of any of his printed first wave Edgar Rice Burroughs Ace cover paintings.
In 1970, Frazetta agreed to allow Vern Coriell to reproduce this painting for the first time for an ERB fanzine. Coriell dragged his feet for a full two years before returning the original art to Frazetta sometime in 1972. At this point Frazetta repainted parts of the painting in oil paint while leaving other parts as-is, creating an unusual kind of watercolor/oil paint hybrid.
Two years later, in 1974, Frazetta and his wife, Ellie were actively involved in trying to recover the original art for his cover of CREEPY #9 (1966)(aka WINGED TERROR). In 1967, Frank sold that original to Robert Barrett for only $300 USD. This was a bargain price even by 1967 standards and strongly suggests that Frank had very little regard for this painting back then. However, in the intervening seven years, both Frazetta and Ellie realized that this particular painting was a fan favorite, and that they had made a major tactical blunder in letting the original art for it slip out of their possession. Barrett was familiar with Tarzan and the Ant Men and quite liked it. He asked if Frazetta would be willing to fully repaint it in oil paints and then trade that for the CREEPY painting. Frank answered in the affirmative, fully repainted TATAM in all oil paint and swapped it with Barrett to obtain the WINGED TERROR original.
There is no question in my mind that the 1972/1974 oil repainting is far superior in every way compared to the 1962 watercolor. Having said that, the 1962 original still has a nice quality to it. To the best of my knowledge this was the first and only time Frazetta did an oil repainting over a watercolor original.
Frazetta's revised painting for Tarzan and the Ant Men. (circa 1972)
"Winged Terror" Creepy #9 Cover Artwork
TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1963)(oil painting)/ TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1963)(oil repainting)
TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE PAPERBACK
TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE
THE LOST CONTINENT(1963)(watercolor)/THE LOST CONTINENT(1992)(oil repainting)
The Lost Continent Original Artwork (1963)
The Lost Continent Revised Painting (1992)
Hi, I just wanted to pay my compliments on this very informative and well-written blog. Even for a long-time Frazetta fan like me, I learned a great deal. Nice work.