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Winner of the 2001 Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists award for Best Archival Webpage.

THE FANTASTIC ILLUSTRATION OF

FRANK R. PAUL

(4/18/1884 - 6/29/1963)

Whenever people ask me who my favorite science fiction artist is, I always say Frank R. Paul. Most sci-fi art simply washes over me, like so much water in an ocean. But every once in a while, I come across something so marvelous, so different that I have to stop and say, WOW. Whatever else I'm doing becomes irrelevant and I stare at that image until it burns into my consciousness. Paul's impact on other people, and in fact on the entire history of science fiction, is also undeniable. At a time when most Americans didn't even have a telephone, he was painting space stations, robots and aliens from other planets. In an era when Lindbergh made headlines by flying across the Atlantic, Paul envisioned starships plowing across the galaxy. Indeed, he was the guest of honor at the first world science fiction convention, and he was the first person to ever make a living drawing spaceships. What could be cooler than that? The first science fiction image Arthur C. Clarke ever saw was a Frank R. Paul painting. Same for Forrest J. Ackerman and Ray Bradbury. Indeed, his work has inspired countless multitudes to write and dream and explore. - F.W.

THE OFFICIAL

FRANK R. PAUL GALLERY

ROOM 1

artwork (c) Frank R. Paul estate

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE ABOVE TO SEE AN ENLARGEMENT

OFFICIAL FRANK R. PAUL GALLERY

ROOM 1 (Amazing Stories, Air Wonder Stories, Science Wonder Stories)

ROOM 2 (Wonder Stories)

ROOM 3 (Other Magazines)

ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST of Paul's work: Covers: Parts I, II, and III; Back Covers: IV; and Interiors & Articles: V. Part V also lists some Paul-related mysteries I am trying to solve.

(1) Paul painting the cover of The Family Circle, Aug. 26, 1938, issue, which featured a wonderful tribute to Paul, both the man and his work.

(2) Paul still painting, years later; from "A Brush with Genius," by Forrest J. Ackerman, Omni, June 1991, vol. 13, no. 9, p. 65.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has this to say about Frank R. Paul: "FRP is the best candidate for 'Father of Modern SF illustration', at least in the form it took in the pulp magazines. He received much of his education in Vienna, and studied also in Paris and New York. Trained as an architect, he was discovered by [editor] Hugo Gernsback in 1914 while working for a rural newspaper. Their names have been virtually inseparable ever since the days of Electrical Experimenter. ... For #1 of Amazing Stories in Apr 1926 FRP not only painted the cover illustration but did all the interior black-and-white artwork as well, and continued to do [all the covers and many of the interiors] until Gernsback lost control of the magazine in 1929. When Gernsback started publishing again later that year, FRP was once more his primary illustrator, on Science Wonder Stories, Air Wonder Stories and then Wonder Stories; indeed, his association with Gernsback lasted until the short-lived Science Fiction Plus in 1953 [and beyond, if you consider Gernsback's Forecast magazines - FW]; he painted more than 150 covers for Gernsback in all [closer to 190 if you count Science & Invention and Forecast - FW]. He worked elsewhere, too, with a further 28 front covers for various non-Gernsback SF magazines, including all 12 for Charles D. Hornig's Science Fiction, and also a series of full colour back-cover paintings for the Ziff-Davis Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures (1939-1946). He also did all the illustration [correction, all the covers and some comix - FW] for Superworld Comics, a Gernsback experiment of 1939.

"FRP's style shows his architectural training; his cities and technology are lovingly detailed, his aliens well thought out and plausible, but his human figures stiff and simplistic. His colours were bright (almost garish, even for the period) and flat, and he liked pure reds and yellows, particularly as backgrounds (although this was partly due to Gernsback's meanness in using three- rather than four-colour printing). It seems odd to associate primitive art with sf, but FRP was in his technological way, just as much a primitive as Grandma Moses (1860-1961) and, like her, had an authentic naive poetry to his work. The brightness of colour throughout the pulp-magazine era of sf was a direct result of FRP's influence. FRP was guest of honour at the first World SF convention in 1939." Jon Gustafson/Peter Nicholls, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, ed. John Clute and Peter Nicholls, 1993, St. Martin's Press, N.Y.

Ray Bradbury had this to say: "As for me, Frank R. Paul romanced me with future architectures when I was eight, summoning me to cities lost in the Time Ahead until he landed me in shocks of joy, in the colored facades and high-rises of the Chicago World's Fair." In Infinite Worlds, Vincent di Fate, 1997, Penguin Studio, p. 5.

About this site: A couple years ago I discovered that there was no central internet repository for information on this great artist. Just a couple scattered images here and there. A travesty considering Paul's importance - so I decided to build my own. Collected here for your viewing pleasure are thumbnails of almost every front and back cover illustration Paul ever did, along with enlargements of many of them. I am also compiling the most complete bibliography of this artist available, as far as I know, anywhere on the planet. Enjoy Paul's beautiful work. - F.W.

For a really long list of Paul's artwork (with MORE PICTURES), click here.

For Paul's obit in the New York Times, click here. For an interview with Robert Paul, FRP's son, where he discusses his dad's work, click here.

If anyone has additional images of Frank R. Paul's artwork, please email me (Frank Wu) at Qarlo999@hotmail.com

At the 2001 WorldCon (Millenium Philcon), this Frank R. Paul tribute site received an award from ASFA (Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists) for "Best Archival Web Pages". This was the first year these website awards were given. I am truly honored, as I am sure that FRP would be. Also many, many thanks to Forrest J. Ackerman, who oversees the FRP estate (see below).

A NOTE ABOUT PERMISSION

For that I emailed Forrest J. Ackerman, a fan among fans, who (when he was alive) ran the Frank R. Paul estate.

[The estate is now run by Bill Engle, FRP's grandson, whom you may contact regarding reprints.]

About Forry: Hugo Gernsback, the "Father of Science Fiction", had dubbed 4e "the Son of Science Fiction." I asked 4e for permission to run this site and he emailed me back, in part, thus:

"You're welcome to reprise his artwork on your network as long as no commercial purpose is served and viewers are informed that for any commercial use they must make arrangements with me. Onward Paulward! Forry Ackerman"

I ran into Forrest J. Ackerman at ComicCon 2000. For those who don't know who "4e" is: Mr. Ackerman created Vampirella and founded Famous Monsters of Filmland. 4e's fanzine in the 1930's featured Ray Bradbury's first published story. He is also probably single-handedly responsible for the rash of bad-puns in fandom (Ackerman himself coined the term "sci-fi"). Also, as you my gentle reader may know, 4e has an astonishingly huge collection of science fiction paraphenalia. He has (or at least had), in his Ackermansion in Los Angeles, for example, huge piles of pulp magazines, original artwork by the greats of science fiction illustration (including several FRP interiors), plus an unbelievable mass of movie props. These include the last surviving Martian war machine used in the making of the 1952 version of War of the Worlds, Ray Harryhausen's first model dinosaur, and the submarine prop from Atlantis, the Lost Continent. When I met him, he was wearing the ring Bela Lugosi wore when he played Dracula in 1931. And 4e himself was wearing the glasses he wore when he played the President of the world in Amazon Women on the Moon. 4e spoke of playing in one film the President of the United States; in his next movie, he was promoted to the President of the World. Later, however, he became a beauty contest judge in a nudist colony. He considered the last a sort of demotion, though it was noted that some might find the last job the most preferable of the three. Recently, I had the pleasure of finally going to 4e's Ackermansion in Los Angeles, after having wanted to for 25-odd years. I have to say that my mouth was just open the whole time. The entire front entrance, the first thing you see, is a whole wall covered with FRP's - many original interior art pieces, but also innumerable meticulously painted recreations of FRP's covers done by a fan named Anton Brzezinski. Amazing indeed. We even got to go out to lunch afterwards, and here Forrie's stories - he even sang an old Al Jolson song for us! It was at that point that I asked him if I could call my site the "official" Frank R. Paul website, and he said, yes, so there it is!

None of this has anything to do with Frank R. Paul, but it was a wonder meeting the man.

Now, about the Forrest J. Ackerman/Frank R. Paul connection. In a Starlog magazine interview, thus spoke Ackerman:

"People ask me, 'If the ultimate earthquake happened, what would you grab first?' Actually, I consider Frank R. Paul to be the reason that I'm sitting here talking to you today - everything in my life began with Paul. It was his painting on the cover of the October, 1926 Amazing Stories that grabbed me and caused me to look inside and started the whole thing. So, toward the end of his life, I had him redraw the cover for me - and he drew me into the picture. ... On my 60th birthday I decided that at my own expense I would sit down and [put out a magazine to] say everything I had on my mind." Starlog noted: "That little 36-page volume with the Paul cover is entitled Amazing Forries and is a fascinating autobiography of this incredible man."

artwork (c) Frank R. Paul estate

The Oct., 1926 Amazing Stories; and BW copy of Ackerman's autobiography Amazing Forries, with enlargement of Paul's portrait of 4e.

Text from Starlog No. 13 (May 1978), pp. 48-53, by Howard Zimmerman, which is a fascinating article on Forrest J. Ackerman.

OTHER PULP MAGAZINE AND PULP ART LINKS:

A full list of pulp-related links from Waystation Central is here.

ThePulp.net has a lot of info on various pulp mags, esp. heroic stuff (The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Spider, etc.).

If you're interested in actually buying some old pulps and happen to live in the bay area (that's where I live, so that's where the only such places I know are), check out:

Kayo Books, 814 Post Street, San Francisco CA 94109, kayo@sfo.com; http://www.sfo.com/~kayo, 415-749-0554, open Wed-Sun 11-6. They have lots of old Amazing Stories issues.

Also try Bill Slater, based in Grants Pass, Oregon, at 472-9015; he does a lot of the west coast sci-fi cons (I just saw him at WesterCon '01), and he has piles of old pulp magazines for sale that are (surprise surprise) really well-organized.

NOTES ON COLLECTING PAUL's, CLICK HERE.

Please email me (Frank Wu) any Frank R. Paul-related comments.

From Arthur Fried 10/19/00

Just wanted to thank you for the Frank R. Paul gallery. It is beautifully done. I am going to be showing it to the students in my science fiction class at Plymouth State College tomorrow.

Arthur Fried

I thanked Mr. Fried for his kind words and asked him about his class. His reply:

From Arthur Fried 10/19/00

Hi, Frank -- Actually, I teach popular fiction. I take an historical approach and talk quite a bit about pulp magazines. I thought that tomorrow I would spend half the class touring web sites featuring pulp art. Paul is my favorite artist from that period and has been for a very long time. I'm not a collector, but I used to have a poster of the Amazing cover featuring the man in the flying suit. I'd love to get another copy. Do you know whether anyone is currently reproducing Paul's work?



I love Paul's illustrations of a technologically advanced, optimistic future. It is so much more soulful than the dark, slummish Blade-Runnerish, cyber punk-inspired visions that we have had for the past 20 years or so.



I actually don't know of anyone reproducing Paul's work right now, at least in the form of posters. I recently saw a reproduction lunchbox with a tribute to 30's rocketships, with one of Paul's ships on it - certainly with no credit, and probably with no royalty. But no posters or art books (hence the need for this website) that I know of. If anybody out there knows of any Paul reproductions, please let me know. - F.W.

[Since writing this email, I got a note from Jim Jones (see below), who is selling reprints of FRP's work!]

From Charlotte GUIDOLIN 10/31/00

hey fantastic website

I am student studying design at the moment an recently fell in love with [Frank R. Paul's] illustrations and other creative works. I will definitely take a longer look at your website very soon.

just time is the essence at the moment at the end of year....

thanks for the inspiration.....Paul. From Capt. Kurt 1/25/01 Subject: Wu Art & Frank R. Paul Hi Frank , had to check in to thank you for the great job you did on your Frank R Paul tribute site. I've been a fan of fantastic art and literature for a long time, so I was aware of his work. It's just that seeing it collected all in one place like that made me realize what a genius this guy was. I especially like his portrayals of aliens, robots and bizarre

creatures. He really breathes life into these otherworldly beings. Your no slouch in this department yourself, as I found out after visiting your on line art gallery. Your paintings have a nice surreal dream like quality to them, but with plenty of raw emotions! 'Justice' and 'My Own Private Cubicle' are two of my favorites. I think I like 'Grendel' best though. Next to King Kong, he's one of the classic bad-ass monsters of all time! You've shown us a different side of the beast in your portrait, then again I guess he still has a face only a mother could love. So your artistic endeavors and your Frank Paul salute are greatly appreciated. P.S. Do you know of anyone selling prints or copies of some of those great 'Paul' Covers? Thanks! Capt Kurt Thanks, Capt. Kurt! I really appreciate your comments! But, no, sorry, but I don't know anyone out there who is reproducing Paul's covers. Perhaps this is a good idea for some industrious entrepreneur. Of course, you should make sure you get permission from Forrest J. Ackerman, who runs the FRP estate, first. [Since writing this email, I got a note from Jim Jones (see below), who is selling reprints of FRP's work!]

From Stephen Labovsky 1/26/01 Subject: "Eyewitness to Space"

I am currently working on a film documentary about a little known program initiated by NASA called the "eyewitness to space" program. Back in 1962, NASA started asking prominent artist to depict first the Mercury then the Apollo space shots. Many of the artist, Paul Calley, Jamie Wyeth, Norman Rockwell spoke about the influence that people like Frank R. Paul had on their interest in space.

The question we film makers always have when looking for material to use in our work is, who has the material and how can I get permission to use it? As the resident expert on FRP, I am writing to ask if you could supply me with any information about some of Paul's illustration and how I could get permission to use them.

Thank you in advance for your help in this matter.

Stephen Labovsky, Full Circle Studios



I told Stephen that Forrest J. Ackerman is The Man in charge of the FRP estate and that he could get permission from him to reproduce FRP's work. Stephen's documentary sounds exciting, doesn't it?

From Dieter Kirchner 02/02/01

Dear Mr. Wu,



Congratulations for your Frank R. Paul Gallery. It was already of great help for me and maybe you could provide me some additional help.

First I was alarmed by an illustration by Paul printed in the August 1990 Smithsonian (it seems to be the signed original of the cover of Science Wonder Stories August 1929, maybe this and other illustrations of this article are of interest for you). Then I found your Gallery.

I would be very interested in the July, August, and September issues of 1929 Science Wonder Stories. Because originals, I suppose, are very rare could you help me to copies. My interest concerns the text (key word: Noordung) of these issues.



D. Kirchner



I told Dieter that I didn't know about the Smithsonian article and thanked him for letting me know; I will try to track it down. As for the Science Wonder Stories issues he mentioned... The stories are summarized in a book called Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years, meticulously researched and compiled by Everett F. Bleiler (with the assistance of Richard J. Bleiler), Kent St. Univ. Press, 1998. But the only way to get the texts of the issues is to find hard copies of the old magazines themselves. The best way I know how is to look on internet auction sites like eBay.com. I have seen many of the old Science Wonder Stories issues come up for sale there.

Another email From Arthur Fried 2/14/01

Hi, Frank. Did you know that The University of Nebraska Press has reprinted Gernsback's Ralph 124C41+ as part of its Bison Frontiers of Imagination series? It is a beautiful paperback book with all of Frank R. Paul's illustrations for the 1925 edition. The books costs $13.95 and is well worth the price. My only regret is that the cover illustration is by a modern artist rather than Paul. If you have never read the novel, it is pretty neat -- one of the most prophetic works of very early SF.

Art

Hi, Art. No, I didn't know about the U. Nebraska reprint of Ralph. But thanks for letting me know. The link on Amazon for the book is here.

From Dr. Andrew Wood of San Jose State U. 2/16/01:

Hi! I maintain a course website called Rhetoric and Public Life at:

http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/149/

And I'd like to use the image at:

http://www.frankwu.com/Paul-14.html [This is Paul's futuristic cityscape for July 1934 Wonder Stories, illustrating "Voice of Atlantis" by Laurence Manning - FW]

For a page on that site. I'd provide you attribution and be delighted to link to your site (actually, I've already linked to your awesome site). May I borrow the image?

Andy

I told Andy that I appreciated the link, and told him he could borrow the image - provided that he cleared it first with Forrest J. Ackerman, who, again, runs the FRP estate.

Great site!

I am in possession of a large collection of Amazing Stories magazines inherited from my father. I recognized several covers on your site.

'Course, I grew up reading these, and therefore, they were handled/damaged more than they should have been...

My current hobby is to scan the collection into my computer and convert to pdf format. Should I find a missing Frank Paul cover, I'll inform you.



Thanks for the site.

Chris

From Line Bonneville 03/04/01:

Cher M. Wu,

Je suis Qu�b�coise et j'ai eu la chance de trouver votre merveilleux site, qui m'a permis de decouvrir l'artiste Frank R. Paul et son travail. Ces pages couvertures sont vraiment des tresors. J'ai moi-meme fait de l'illustration dans le passe et je sais tout le travail que ces oeuvres representent.

Tout votre site est plein de classe et d'humour. C'est tres rafraichissant sur le web. Merci, et continuez votre beau travail !



TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH TO ENGLISH:



Dear Mr. Wu,

I am a Quebecer and I recently found - by sheer luck - your wonderful web site, where I had the chance to discover the work of Frank R. Paul, and your own. These covers are treasures; I used to be an illustrator myself and I know the hard work behind this great result. By the way, your whole site is so full of class and humor, it is specially refreshing compared to the mainstream sites. Thank you, and keep up with your own excellent work !

From: Peter V. Bonnesen 4/22/01

Great Paul Site!

Hello Frank, I just love your website tribute to Frank R. Paul!! By way of introduction, my name is Peter Bonnesen, and I have recently become a big fan of Frank R. Paul's artwork, especially the back covers of Amazing Stories in the 1940-1946 timeframe (but I like all his work). I noted some places where you didn't have graphics (Amazing Stories: 9/40 Life on Europa; 10/40 Life on Ganymede; 11/40 Life on Titan; 10/41 City Inside the Moon). I also found one not on your list: Amazing Feb 1943 Stories of the stars Canis Major. I am attaching these as jpg files - see if they will be of use to your wonderful website.

Regards, Peter ("FOP")

P.S. Where can one find/see the original paintings - are these part of Ackermann's collection? Also, what is the most comprehensive book that covers Paul's artwork?

Hi, Peter. Thanks so much!!!! It has been such a BEAR getting all the back cover images. Thank you immensely for sending me those images. And thanks for the new reference. [I just posted the images Peter sent me.] As for where to see the original Paul paintings, I really don't know.

4E has several original Pauls, but they are black and white interior pieces. I think he may have had some original color Paul cover paintings, but may have had to sell those because of his lawsuit over the ownership of "Famous Monsters." He told me that even though he won the lawsuit, he hasn't received a penny, and has had to spent more money getting the guy to cough up the dough than he did on the suit itself. 4E's walls are covered with Paul covers, but they seem to be mostly painted reproductions by a fellow named Anton Brzezinski. Really finely detailed fan copies.

Also, Paul's family had a LOT of his original paintings, but someone in Paul's family - I believe his oldest grandson got really sick, so the family had to sell ALL their original Pauls to pay the medical bills. Which was really quite a bummer. I talked to a couple of his family members a few months ago, and they didn't even have copies of magazines that he had done covers for, so I sent them a bunch.

I should also mention that Jane and Howard Frank, of Worlds of Wonder - they are art collectors and agents - and recently have assembled a book on Richard Powers' art - have a couple Frank paintings in their collection. They live in Baltimore and own the original cover paintings for Oct 1940 Science Fiction magazine and Nov. 1940 Future Fiction. Other than that, I don't know where to see original FRPs. And you also asked if there was a good reference book on Paul. Not really, no. That was also a big impetus in creating this website. Because there wasn't anything out there collecting all the works of this important artist. So I had to build one. The best I've seen are the Vincent DiFate book "Infinite Worlds" which has four pages with nice illustrations dedicated to Paul and numerous references throughout. But there doesn't seem to be a book out there that I know of that comprehensively collects FRP's work.

Note: Peter sent me even more images (back covers from Amazing), which I will put up shortly. He is THE MAN! 5/21/01.

From Jim Jones 4/23/01 Dear Mr. Wu, I am with Terry Holdings, LLC, which has the exclusive rights to reproduce and sell selected images from Forrest J. Ackerman's world famous art collection. Included are several of Frank R. Paul's illustrations, which Mr. Ackerman commissioned Anton Brzezinski to recreate and bring to life with oils.

We have had the collection professionally photographed, and the images have been scanned. Currently, we are offering prints for sale as giclees, on Duraflex, and on Kodak Photographic paper.

Please contact me if you are interested in additional information.

Thanks,

Jim D. Jones

760-632-5617

I told him that I would be VERY interested in finding out more info. from him. His reply:

From Jim Jones 4/24/01

Frank, I would enjoy hearing from anyone who's interested in the artwork. I'm also a fan (scifi, pulp, art). I'm also in the process of cataloguing the images so I can present them in a coherent manner. A website is in the works, I should have one online within a week or so and if you don't mind, I'll include a link to your site. I'll keep you up-to-date on that and when I finish the cataloguing, I'll provide you with more specific poster info. Look for that in a day or so. Back to your website . . . I had to laugh when I read about your reaction to 4e's place. Everyone I know is completely overwhelmed by the sheer scope and volume of memorabilia. I include myself in this list of Ackermaniacs. I was there about 2 weeks ago, and I brought my digital camera. Forry's an incredible character, and it's encouraging to see someone who exemplifies how much more fun it is to keep a positive attitude and age gracefully. He is a one-of-a-kind treasure. I've been acquainted with him since October, when I was invited to work on a documentary film called "The Dream Pioneers." www.dreampioneers.com The film (50-minute documentary) features Ackerman, Ray Bradbury, and Ray Harryhausen, and I'm currently in the process of submitting it along with an interactive study guide for adoption as a state-approved text with the Calif. Dept. of Education.

Good to hear from you, and thanks again for the promo. Stay tuned!

Jim

Jim Jones emailed me again a couple days later with a website with the first 14 images in his Forrest J. Ackerman collection. The images, poster sized versions of which are available for purchase, are of Anton Brzezinski's oil painting re-creations of some of Paul's work. I've seen many of these at Forrest J. Ackerman's house, and they are really quite nice. The website for Jim's company (Terry Holdings LLC) is here:

http://www.amazingscifiart.net

A portrait of Frank R. Paul, surrounded by his creations, painted by Brzezinski (reproduced with permission), copies of which are available through the aforementioned website:

From Fabio Femin�" <annihilus@tiscalinet.it> June 11, 2001[Fabio recently set up a site full of FRP artwork, with commentaries translated into Italian!]



The site begins with acknowledgements, and you are all included:



http://www.fantascienza.net/users/femino/SPACEART/ARTISTS1.html



there are 18 pages: early precursors, Paul, Bonestell, McCall, NASA Art





From Ryan Heshka June 28, 2001:

Hello Frank,



My name is Ryan Heshka... I've been meaning to email for a while now, ever since stumbling upon your fantastic FRP page!



I'm an illustrator myself (and due to assignments I've got to keep this one brief), who has been influenced by Paul's work ever since I was a tiny tot. FRP has been a life long passion, and I've spent what I could afford collecting his early pulp art (mag's only). In fact, just before I moved away from my hometown (Winnipeg), I met by chance an old fellow, Chester D. Cuthbert who wrote a couple of stories for Gernsback's Wonder. He has complete runs of the Gernsback pulps, which he let me photograph until I ran out of film. The only one he didn't have was the Amazing Annual, which I tracked down later ... a beautiful mag!



Anyways, I could go on and on about how Paul has been in and out of my life, but I'll just say he's one of the constants on my list of favorite things. Now, I am looking to purchase a b&w Paul original, if I can ever track one down. Any ideas? I don't know if I can really afford to, but I can't afford not to. He has been such a huge influence on me (I even started painting with gouache before I knew he did!). One of the first things I painted with gouache was a repro of Paul's cover to Marvel Comics #1, but painted in the style of his Amazings... if you are interested, I can send you copies of this cover. I think it turned out well, and having no deadline, I put as much work into this tribute as I could. Let me know!!

Well, what I really wanted to say was: thanks for putting together this collection of Paul. I'm really surprised that no books have yet been

released on this pioneer of sci-fi art... it's a project I would really like to see happen one day, even if I had to do it myself. Owning a B&W Paul is a dream, and I think by shooting for a B&W, I'm keeping it realistic. Meanwhile, at least we have your site to keep us going.



That's all for now, but let me know if you want copies of the Marvel repro, as well as a want list for color copies of other Paul covers (ex: the 1927 Annual), and I'll see what I can do. Anything to further Paul's art! In the meantime, take care and good luck with your own art (nice stuff by the way!).



Warm regards,



Ryan Heshka

Ryan sent me a copy of his repro of Paul's cover for Marvel Comics issue no. 1, and you can see it here.

From Loston Wallace 01/01/02

Hi, I am a freelance artist, and I am a huge fan of Paul's work! This site is one of the best on the web - congrats. In my free moments, I downloaded an image from your site and used PhotoShop to clean it up. I did nothing to really alter the artwork other than simply clear up the image. I hope you will use this on your site if you so choose.

Happy New Year,

Loston Wallace.

Loston actually cleaned up two images, including the famous War of the Worlds cover for Amazing. His cleaned up images can be seen here and here. BTW, Loston's website is here.

From Andrew 04/01/03:

Hi,

I am 13 years old and a HUGE fan of FRP. I have a couple Amazing Stories he did the covers for, including the famous flying man from the August 1928 issue. I purchased it last year for a sum of 210.00. I was wondering, do you know off the top of your head anyone that might own a copy of the Amazing annual, 1927. I have had some trouble trying to acquire one.

Thanks,

Andrew- - - by the way, GREAT JOB! on the site.

Thanks for writing, Andrew! And I'm glad we are pulling in the new fans that FRP deserves! And as for finding the Amazing Stories Annual, I suggested to him trying eBay. Seems to be the hopping-est place for buying and sell pulps.

IS IT A PAUL OR JUST A COPY?

I was recently emailed about a painting someone had which may have been the original of the March 1933 Wonder Stories cover painting. He wanted my opinion on if it was the original or not. Here is my analysis and conclusion.

9/3/01. At WorldCon in Philadelphia, I ran into J.K. Klein, fannish photographer. He had met Frank R. Paul at a WorldCon back in 1956 - Paul would have been about 72. He told me that they stood in a hallway and talked for an hour. Paul had had a heart attack and had pain down his left arm, poor guy. He also told Klein a little about his technique when he was able to paint. He painted on poster board, using really bright colors, straight out of tube, but as brilliant as he could find, because the printing process invariably dulled things out. I wish I could go back in time and join them in that hallway for a little chat. - F.W.

4/3/03. FRP has now been gone for almost four decades, and now most of the folks who knew him are fading away, too. This is sad. Sad because we still have FRP's art, but those who met him, esp. when they were young, still have that glow and reverence, as if meeting FRP were like unto meeting an angel or minor deity. I tracked down David Kyle at I-CON this past weekend. David, who just turned 84, has written a couple pictorial histories of science fiction. He said he had gone into Hugo Gernsbach's office and there, sitting at a drawing table was FRP. With him he had copy of the Winter 1933 Wonder Stories Quarterly (the one, he said, with the porthole with the view of the Earth without any clouds on it). He asked FRP to sign it. Not really all that much of a story, but the thing that really got me was the aura that FRP carried and the huge impression he made on this (then) young man. David also told me that he was chairman of the 1956 WorldCon (NYCon II) and FRP kindly agreed to do a piece of artwork for him for the program book. I am still trying to track that one down...

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