Thanks for mentioning my piece on Kley in the latest issue of illustration. For Kley fans in your readership, I humbly suggest checking out the new two volume set I've just published on Kley's work, with more information found here:
Joe Procopio's excellent article on Kley is definitely worth checking out, as are his two collections of Kley's work. I am fortunate to have both of them, and the reproductions are great.
As for the Dorne book, I understand exactly what you mean. I think Dorne was a lot like Jack Davis. He produced a small number of brilliant drawings that proved he had the talent when he was moved to use it, but he was also hugely prolific, producing thousands of pictures that weren't consistently up to that standard. Much like Davis, he made a mint and transformed the business. In the end, he was more of a business executive than an artist on the drawing board.
He was a fascinating character but I would not disagree with you about the quality of some of his work.
December 12, 2012 at 4:47 AM
Here are two items of interest to readers who like pre-1970s illustration.
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First is issue No. 39 of Illustration magazine. I'm citing it because its cover and lead article deal with Pete Hawley, famous for the illustrations he made for Jantzen back in the 1950s. I really need to write a post about him. Another article in that issue you might enjoy concerns the somewhat enigmatic Heinrich Kley who also deserves a post.
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The next item worth your while is the new book about Albert Dorne with text by primo illustration maven David Apatoff who mentions it in this post on his Illustration Art blog. The huge news in this post is that he is working on a book about the great Bernie Fuchs. If there's anyone more qualified to do a biography about Fuchs, I'll be stunned to know who it might be. I can hardly wait for the Fuchs book.
As for the book about Dorne, I'm not so sure. It isn't Apatoff's problem, but instead mine. That's because, while I respect Dorne for his work and career, I could never get excited about his illustrations, competently done though they were. So I'll mull over buying the book for a while. Oh: I ought to do a Dorne post too.
posted by Donald Pittenger at 1:00 AM on Dec 10, 2012
3 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formThanks for mentioning my piece on Kley in the latest issue of illustration. For Kley fans in your readership, I humbly suggest checking out the new two volume set I've just published on Kley's work, with more information found here:
http://www.picturethispress.com/the-lost-art-of-heinrich-kley-volumes-1-2/
For some more samples of the art within the books, I also put together a fun little video on the Kley books here:
http://youtu.be/-DPdI1F5MoM
Thanks for helping spread the word on this master draftsman!
--Joe
December 11, 2012 at 8:26 AM
Joe -- Thank you for visiting Art Contrarian and passing along the additional information.
December 11, 2012 at 11:16 AM
Joe Procopio's excellent article on Kley is definitely worth checking out, as are his two collections of Kley's work. I am fortunate to have both of them, and the reproductions are great.
As for the Dorne book, I understand exactly what you mean. I think Dorne was a lot like Jack Davis. He produced a small number of brilliant drawings that proved he had the talent when he was moved to use it, but he was also hugely prolific, producing thousands of pictures that weren't consistently up to that standard. Much like Davis, he made a mint and transformed the business. In the end, he was more of a business executive than an artist on the drawing board.
He was a fascinating character but I would not disagree with you about the quality of some of his work.
December 12, 2012 at 4:47 AM