Monday, May 10, 2010

RIP: Frank Frazetta (1928-2010)

Al Harron over at The Cimmerian is reporting that legendary painter, Frank Frazetta, perhaps best known for his illustrations of Conan and John Carter of Mars, is dead at the age of 82. Frazetta's artwork will forever be iconic. His loss is a great one and another sad milestone for fantasy fans who came of age in late 60s and 1970s. He will be missed.

15 comments:

  1. Another sad passing. Frazetta wasn't my favorite fantasy artist, but, you're right. For those of us first exposed to science-fiction and fantasy in the 70s, his art left an indelible impression.

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  2. This is horribly depressing. There will never be another like Frazetta.

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  3. A nice, understated sendoff to a brilliantly influential fellow, James. I could just listen to him talk for hours, never mind paint...and to borrow a phrase, the man worked more jobs than Roto-Rooter.

    What I hope in all this is that some folk out there discover some facet to Frank they weren't familiar with before. His work is instantly associated with Conan, Tarzan, John Carter, Vampirella and more, but maybe there are still folks out there who haven't seen his poster for Svengali, who never knew he worked for Playboy or Mad or drew Li'l Abner for a while. When you're dealing with a life as lived (and body of work as prolific) as his, the best way to honor that isn't to post yet another image of Death Dealer (awesome paintings all but maybe now is not the right time for the DEATH Dealer) but to celebrate all the places that like took him, even the ones one might be unfamiliar with. An amazing life and bottomless oeuvre and most of the places I've seen that are even reporting this death report it as "painted conan, son tried to steal from him." Deserves better.

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  4. R.I.P Mr. Frazetta you were a true master of your art. Thanks for all the amazing work that so influenced and inspired my young mind.

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  5. Sad news. I need to watch that documentary about him again. What was the name of it?

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  6. Wow. The single artist I most associate with fantasy. His documentary is available on Netflix.

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  7. R.I.P Frank! You will always be fondly remembered by your legions of fans!

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  8. Goodbye, Mr Frazetta.

    Seems you finally met your well known "Death Dealer"...

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  9. His covers got me into reading Conan, Tarzan, and JCOM more than anything else.

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  10. Very sad, I wish his family the best. I posted a few of my favorite Frazetta pieces on my blog and encouraged others to put up their favorites as a remembrance.

    So long Frank, and thanks for sharing your talents. You'll be missed.

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  11. His art helped define the Sword & Sorcery genre.

    The Master is dead.

    Long live the Master. :(

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