FRAZETTA: KING OF PAINT Chapter 12: 1974
by Paul Vespignani
THE MOON MAID(1974)(oil painting)/THE MOON MAID(aka THE MOONMAID)(date unknown)(oil repainting)(copyright date 1972)
Even back when I was 14 years old in 1974 I thought it was strange that Frank did a practically perfect painting for the cover of THE MOON MAID except for the 1 very obvious flaw of her weirdly unfinished right hand. Was Frazetta hoping that no one would notice that hand? Or that they would be so impressed with the overall painting that they would be quite forgiving of its 1 fault?
Considering Frank's speed and proficiency back in the prime year of 1974 he could have fixed that bum hand in a matter of minutes with a quick hand repainting. So why didn't he? Why did he feel compelled to do a 100% repainting of TMM?
As was the case with CAT GIRL I wish that FF had done his TMM repainting on a 2nd piece of canvas board. In that alternate reality we remaining soul survivors would now have 2 fine variants of CG and TMM instead of just 1 of each. Totally painting over 1 masterpiece to produce ANOTHER masterpiece just seems like a spiteful act of artistic self destruction.
The copyright date of 1972 is pretty fascinating because it suggests that Frazetta painted the 1st version of TMM 2 years before it was published. This is actually feasible because Frank had such a large number of cover paintings to do for his ERB 2nd wave that the publisher Ace gave him the time to do several of the paintings 1 or 2 years before the actual deadlines. TMM might well have been among the 1st group of 2nd wave ERB paintings that he did back in 1972. However we still have no way of knowing when he did the repainting.
The repainting got a lot of extra attention for its debut to the general public in FRANK FRAZETTA: BOOK TWO(1977) where it was included as an interior image, was gifted with a close up detail shot, and received the coveted back cover of the book(there with much better repro than the interior plate). There is a now famous black and white photo of George Lucas visiting the Frazetta home in 1977 and he is holding this book in his hand with the back cover showing. TMM was also a poster from Frazetta Prints.
George Lucas holding FRANK FRAZETTA: BOOK TWO(1977).
Although the 1st version is still my nostalgic favorite(even WITH that mashed up hand) I think both versions are excellent in totally different ways. I can't really decide which 1 is MORE excellent. To be honest all these 2 paintings have in common is the same basic composition. Other than that they really are 2 dramatically divergent images in all of the specific details.
FLASHMAN AT THE CHARGE(1974)(oil painting)/FLASHMAN AT THE CHARGE(aka FLASHMAN ON THE CHARGE)(date unknown)(oil repainting)(copyright date 1974)
Generally speaking the cover painting for FLASHMAN AT THE CHARGE is lighter in tonality and more softly focused than the extensive repainting which adds many darker areas and is much sharper in focus. In particular Flashman's outfit and spear are substantially darkened. His face gets a complete repaint with richer skin tones offset with extra white highlights for his bulging eyes and his individual teeth(the lower row). The effect is to increase the humorous appeal of the painting, already apparent in the original just heightened for the repainting.
The super cute(but offbeat) blond woman from the 1st version is totally replaced with a much more traditional beauty with auburn hair in the 2nd version. Frank has gone on the record that woman #1 didn't look right to him. As was the situation with THE HIGH SIDE(1970) I personally prefer woman #1, but it is hard to argue with the substitution of woman #2. As always with Frazetta there is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to female beauty. As with the overall paintings the body of woman #1 is much softer in focus while the figure of woman #2 is in very sharp focus. They are both naked but woman #2 is a little MORE naked in terms of precise anatomical details(and if that sounds a bit vague just look at the repainting).
In the original painting the background space around the woman's head is substantially lighter than she is. For the repainting this tonal relationship is completely reversed with the background somewhat darker than woman #2's skin tones. This switch was quite intentional and very intriguing.
The title change from FLASHMAN AT THE CHARGE to FLASHMAN ON THE CHARGE was pretty silly. Why bother?
The repainting made its debut in FRANK FRAZETTA: BOOK THREE(1978) and was produced as a poster by Frazetta Prints.
TIME WAR(1974)(oil painting)/TIME WAR(aka INVADERS)(aka RED PLANET)(date unknown)(oil repainting)(copyright date 1974)
I remember being mighty impressed when I 1st saw Frank's cover painting for the TIME WAR paperback in 1974. I thought then(and now) that this painting was totally on point with a perfect composition, lovely color combinations, and stylish painting that was just right with a nice mysterious quality. Even the highly stylized yellow title logo looked great and was beautifully integrated into the painted image. When I 1st saw Frank's pointless repainted deconstruction of this painting when I initially flipped through LEGACY (1999) it really made me angry. If the nude Vampirella repainting of VAMPIRELLA 1(1969) from 1991 is still my least favorite Frazetta repainting this 1 is definitely knocking on the door as a close #2 in that regard.
I have no idea when Frank did this repainting. At least 1 source claims he repainted it at least twice. Who knows?
To inject 1 note of positivity here the back view of the naked woman is very well done in the repainting(as is the foreground patch of landscape directly under her). Even so the more dark and shadowy woman from the original I find more appealing.
The colors of the large planet which fills up almost all of the background space have been completely repainted. The repainted colors are fine, but the original planet colors are far more striking.
Where the 2nd version really falls down hard is in the repainting of the hero. First his handgun is totally painted out. While this doesn't sound like a big deal it creates a cascade of related visual problems. Frazetta does a sloppy job painting out the gun so some bits of gun black are still visible around the right fist which just looks odd. The fist itself now looks strangely truncated without the gun. The 90 degree angle of his right arm which made perfect sense when he was holding the gun now looks stupid and awkward. His greenish skin tints from the original perfectly contrasted with the reddish colors of the background planet. In the repainting Frank substitutes more traditional peachy flesh tones that don't look anywhere near as good.
Frazetta paints out the guy's pants and makes him completely naked. Even a cursory look at the shadowed area of his crotch reveals this dude is as fully neutered as any GI Joe Doll from the 1960s. It is as if FF was hedging his bets here: he wanted the hero to be nude, but not TOO nude. A bathing suit or a pair of short shorts would have been a more reasonable compromise if Frazetta absolutely HAD to get rid of the guy's pants.
Factoring in that Frank and Ellie never included the original TIME WAR in any of the 1st generation FF art books, never made it a poster, and that Frazetta gave it a 100% repaint you don't have to be Benoit Blanc to deduce that Frank liked the TW original far less than I always have. I don't think he ever talked about it on the record.
It is a bit puzzling that TW has TWO alternate titles. I'm also not sure WHO came up with these alternate titles since Frank and Ellie didn't do much of anything commercially with either of these versions.
In the recent blog RECYCLED FRAZETTA longtime FF historian Steve Riggenberg mentions that Frank's comic book panel drawing for THUNDA: KING OF THE LOST LANDS, page 5, panel 1 was the reference/inspiration for the hero figure in TIME WAR. Having seen both the TW cover painting and said comic book panel many times over the years I have to admit I never made the mental connection between the 2 before reading Steve's blog. Indeed the 2 figures are just different enough you can make the argument that the resemblance is just a coincidence. On the other hand, there are definitely enough similarities to fully support Steve's theory. Personally I agree with Steve that Frank based the TW hero on the comic book figure, but Frazetta had improved so much as an artist over the ensuing 2 decades or so that his figure drawing for the TW dude was far superior(and thus somewhat different) than his comic book inspiration. Having said this, the comic book panel is still a mighty nice drawing, especially if you are lucky enough to see it reproduced from the original b/w art(as it was in FRANK FRAZETTA-THE LIVING LEGEND(1981)).
THUNDA: KING OF THE LOST LANDS, page 5, panel 1
For a long time 1974 was 1 of my favorite years of Frank's art career. This seemed to be a healthy and happy year for him when he was in his full artistic bloom, bouncing effortlessly from 1 masterwork to another quickly and easily. In later years I was very surprised to discover that 5 FF paintings that I always considered to be masterpieces he seemed to have developed an irrational and illogical loathing towards. These are the 5 paintings: EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS:MASTER OF ADVENTURE(published early 1975/painted 1974), TIME WAR(1974), THE MOON MEN(published early 1974/painted 1973 or 1972), THE MUCKER(1974), and THE RIDER(1974). Of course Frank did 100% repaints of ERB:MOA and TW which is why they are discussed at length in this 1974 FKOP chapter. Apparently FF had such great disdain for the other 3 paintings that he sold off the original art for all 3 as early as the mid-1970s. The fact that all 5 paintings were never produced as posters by Frazetta Prints and never made an appearance in any of the 1st generation Frazetta art books(1975-1996) is an absolute sure sign of Frank's utter hatred of them.
THE RIDER(1974)
FF friend/collector/historian Robert Barrett has confirmed that back in 1974 when Frank and Ellie were negotiating with him for the return of the WINGED TERROR original art(which RB had purchased back in the 1960s for the bargain price of $300) they offered to trade him THE MOON MEN original art(this is back when it was a relatively new painting) for the WT original. Surprisingly RB turned down this potential trade. If I was in his place I would have agreed to this trade immediately. Nothing against the CREEPY classic WT, but to my way of thinking TMM is a much better, far more artistically mature painting.
The Mucker(1974)
Arnie/Cathy Fenner used THE MOON MEN painting for the cover of the trade paperback reprinting of their 2nd FF book LEGACY(originally published in hardcover in 1999) which is probably proof they love this painting as much as I do.
The 1 true mystery here is Ellie Frazetta's true feelings about these 5 masterpieces. Are we actually supposed to believe that SHE also disliked them? Why would she? Doesn't it seem far more likely she agreed with Frank in saying that she disliked them simply to maintain peace within their marriage? Of course we will never know the truth now about how she really felt about these 5 paintings. It is just another of the many secrets she took with her to her grave in 2009.
THE MOON MEN(published early 1974/painted 1973 or 1972)
Another reason why I am so fond of 1974 for FF is that it was the final year of Frank's full blast oil painting production, followed by a dismal and depressing 3 year long(1975-1977) creative dry spell during which FF's oil painting production was hovering dangerously close to absolute zero. Presumably during this 3 year period he was frittering away his very valuable time indulging in his beloved recreational activities including amateur baseball games with his 2 teen sons, cameras/photography, and golfing. On the more serious flipside he was also supervising the excellent printers of the Frazetta Prints posters to make sure they were as faithful as possible to the originals. How Frank was able to find such top notch printers in the middle of the wilds of the Poconos is anyone's guess. For the 1st 55 years of his life Frank seemed to have been born at the right time and living under a lucky star. This was conversely balanced by the final 27 years of his life when he seemed fatally cursed with nothing but bad luck(which he always survived and dealt with in a highly inspirational and resilient manner).
SWORDS OF MARS & SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS(1974)(oil painting)/SWORDS OF MARS & SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS(aka SWORDS OF MARS)(date unknown)(oil repainting)(copyright date 1974)
Frank only did a small amount of repainting to his masterwork for the dust jacket for the Doubleday hardback 2-for SWORDS OF MARS & SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS. The triangular formation of foemen receive some subtle extra highlighting to make them pop out a bit more from the likewise surrounding dark tonalities. In particular the right foot of the tallest standing villain gets some slivers of bright highlights on and around the foot to make it stand out even more. The elaborate helmet this guy is wearing gets multiple extra highlights and a nice big white highlight nowhere apparent in the original. John Carter's purplish bathing suit is color intensified and given a slightly different shaping.
This painting is a good example of how Frazetta could do a mostly monochromatic painting and incorporate just enough subtle colorations to technically qualify it as a full color painting. Nobody did this as skillfully as Frank.
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS: MASTER OF ADVENTURE(1974)(oil painting)/THE MOON'S RAPTURE(aka CATWALK)(1987)(oil repainting)(copyright date 1987)
I have to admit I immediately fell in love with Frank's cover painting for the paperback EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS: MASTER OF ADVENTURE when it was 1st published by Ace in early 1975. Not only do I consider this to be Frazetta's greatest painting of Tarzan, I also feel this is the finest interpretation of Tarzan done by ANY fine artist, illustrator, or comic book/comic strip artist.
The composition is powerful: a back view of Tarzan with his fists and arms upraised toward an orangey sunset(or is it an orangey moonrise?). His muscled legs are diagonally spread between 2 very large and substantial tree limbs. The tree has lovely bright green moss that FF applied in thick impasto with a palette knife. Tarzan is surrounded by 4 beautifully painted jungle animals who are perfectly integrated both with Tarzan himself and the composition as a whole. I've always considered this to be among FF's very best paintings.
You can imagine how genuinely surprised I was when reading the text of LEGACY in 1999 to discover that Frank himself considered this painting to be a failure. He said that the painting was half good and half stunk but did not say specifically what he liked and didn't like about it. He also volunteered that he very much liked the ROUGH for this painting. The Hercule Poirot side of my personality concluded that I must view this fabled rough to see exactly for myself what FF approved and disapproved of in the final published painting.
As fate(or luck) would have it the rough was in the possession of Frank's longtime friend DocDave Winiewicz(it would be interesting to know if DD purchased this rough from Frazetta or if Frank simply GAVE it to him). For some unknown reason DD decided to auction off his complete Frazetta collection(down to the very last book and magazine) in 2015. An organization called Profiles In History published a large tabloid size hardcover book called DOCDAVE WINIEWICZ FRAZETTA COLLECTION which doubled as an auction catalog and high quality art book. The ERB:MOA rough appeared in this book both reproduced somewhat smaller than its actual 7 x 9 size and in a much larger tabloid size blow up(it looked great in both size ratios). This rough was a mixed media extravaganza of pencil, watercolor, gouache, and oil paint.
In the white negative space above the rough Frank wrote in pencil in all caps: BILLY THE KID BALLET OVERTURE(perhaps FF was listening to this Aaron Copland musical composition while painting this piece?). Below he wrote in pencil in all caps: MY FAVORITE ROUGH! Although I think Frazetta wrote this for DD's benefit I believe his sentiment is sincere. This probably WAS Frank's favorite rough and you can clearly see why. Ace could have used this for their cover painting and I don't think anyone would have complained. Also in the white negative space were some extra pencil only sketches of alternate poses for Tarzan.
Looking closely at the rough I could see the pose of Tarzan, the positioning of the tree limbs, and the orangey moon(sunset?) were all maintained in the final painting. So these were the elements in the final painting that FF liked.
What Frazetta added to the final painting that is NOT in the rough are the 4 animals, the bright green tree moss, a triangular formation of green foliage fronds adjacent to Tarzan's left arm, and a sheathed knife in the back of his loincloth. Apparently these were the elements that Frank did NOT like about the final painting. None of these elements are present in the rough.
The rough also has a darker more nocturnal atmosphere than the finished painting does.
This all raises a logical question. If FF felt he blew the final painting by deviating too far from the rough, why didn't he repaint it to look more like the rough? After all, he could have very easily painted out the 4 animals, the green tree moss, the green fronds, and the knife. He also could have painted in a more overall nocturnal atmosphere. So why didn't he?
Reading DD's liner notes for the rough it is interesting that even HE is down on the finished ERB:MOA painting(hey, wait a minute, am I the only person who loves this painting?). He opines that Frank "clogged-up" the final painting by adding the jungle animals. Obviously I strongly disagree with this opinion! I quite like those animals and think they add a lot to the painting. I always had the impression that DD was a very enthusiastic cheerleader for ALL things Frazetta. I don't ever recall him expressing a negative opinion about any of FF's art. So he chooses THIS painting to criticize? I did read the text for this book back in 2015 and I am surprised this weird anomaly didn't make more of an impression on my memory banks back then(I reread this particular text section in Spring 2023).
The DDWFC auction catalog/book front loads the FF art and related text in the 1st 150 or so pages with a wide variety of art items by Frank's artistic peers collected by DD being relegated to the last 50 or so pages. This book was limited to 950 copies and my copy is #886 suggesting I bought it right when it was on the cusp of going out of print. Personally I would never sell ANY of my FF art books under any circumstances. The only way someone is going to take those books away from me is to pry them from my cold dead fingers.
I want to clarify that FF and DD's negative opinions about the ERB:MOA final painting in no way diminished my admiration for that painting at all. I haven't always agreed with all of their stated opinions about Frank's art. For example, DD once made the public declaration that Frazetta's pen and ink drawings were superior to his oil paintings. While he is certainly entitled to his opinion, I have never EVER thought that Frank's pen and ink drawings were better than his oil paintings. From my personal POV this is my hierarchy of FF's art: his oil paintings are the 1, his watercolor paintings are the 2, his ink wash drawings are the 3, his pen and ink drawings are the 4, and his pencil drawings are the 5. His Al Capp ghost art does not even qualify to be included on the list. This is the way I have always seen Frank's art and I always WILL see it this way. Nobody is going to change my mind about this.
I did not find out that Frank had painted THE MOON'S RAPTURE over ERB:MOA until I read the text of LEGACY in 1999. Needless to say this was VERY upsetting news to me. I always thought that TMR was a done-in-one painting before making this discovery.
For me, totally obliterating a masterpiece of the magnitude of ERB:MOA is a human tragedy right up there with Kane's Rosebud sled being burned up and incinerated at the end of CITIZEN KANE(1941). Only in this particular case Frazetta was burning his own Rosebud sled. Nobody was doing this to him. He was doing it to himself.
Granted TMR was ALSO a masterpiece, but it was also a totally different painting than ERB:MOA and should have been painted on its own piece of canvas board. If Frank wasn't totally happy with ERB:MOA that was fine. He could have sold it to an art collector who would have loved and cherished it...and more importantly PROTECTED it.
It is intriguing that Frazetta did TMR in 1987 and proceeded to sit on it for 7 years before releasing it to the general public. It had a pretty high profile as the only new painting in Frank's 1 and only NYC art show at the Alexander Gallery in 1994. It also served as the dust jacket cover for the AG hardcover book which contained the complete contents of the art show and appeared on an interior page as well. Due to the way-too-dark repro of FF's oil paintings this book remains the all time WORST Frazetta art book ever produced and paradoxically the most ridiculously overpriced(not that this prevented me from buying it though).
This book gave TMR a 1 time only alternate title of CATWALK. Did Frank and Ellie submit the painting to AG untitled and AG titled it CATWALK? Or was this Frank and Ellie's 1st title for it and they had a change of heart and later changed it to TMR? Speaking of THE MOON'S RAPTURE my personal theory is that Ellie titled these paintings herself. TMR seems like an awfully poetic title to be coming from such a traditionally macho dude as Frank.
I distinctly remember buying a copy of PENTHOUSE COMIX 4 in 1994 just to get Frazetta's cover art of TMR. I didn't read any of the interior pages. As a matter of fact, I don't think I even LOOKED at the interior pages.
Between 1994 and 1999 I innocently thought TMR was a new done-in-one painting by Frank. Why would I think otherwise?
0 comments