Can a Science Major Appreciate Art?

One of the best illustrators of all time is Frank Frazetta.  This is not about Frank Frazetta.  To do Frazetta justice would require more energy than I feel like applying today.  Instead, this is about books that showcase the work of two other illustrators, Manuel Sanjulian and Jeffrey Jones.

Sword's Edge by Sanjulian (rating: 6/10) is not a comprehensive look at this artist's work but rather a particular segment of his work: illustrations of Robert E. Howard's sword-and-sorcery hero Conan.  Sanjulian's style is much different than Frazetta's, and many people are more familiar with Frazetta's Conan.  Unfortunately this is a short book marred by mislabeled pictures and typographical errors and an introduction that says more about Robert E. Howard than it does Manuel Sanjulian.

I didn't realize until I read The Art of Jeffrey Jones (rating: 7/10) that I had seen paintings of his used to illustrate book covers on fantasy novels.  Like Sanjulian, Jeffrey Jones's style is much different than Frazetta's.  Where Frazetta is detailed Jones is more impressionistic.  And yet energy and dynamics and movement still come through.  This book gives the reader much more of Jones's work than Sword's Edge gives of Sanjulian's work.  And the introduction tells us much much more about the artist.

Frazetta himself gave Jones great praise.  Artist Gerald Brom has said "In the footsteps of Wyeth, Pyle and the Brandywine school, Jeff Jones has kept alive the grand tradition of American illustration as art."  I'm beginning to better understand - me, a science major in college, not an art major! - why the work of Frazetta and Jones and other modern illustrators, as well as that of Wyeth and Pyle and Waterhouse, appeals to me like it does.

Similar books waiting on my shelves:
Knightsbridge: The Art of Keith Parkinson.
Wondrous Strange: The Wyeth Tradition.
Cutler, Laurence S. and Judy A. G. Cutler.  Maxfield Parrish.
Hobson, Anthony.  J W Waterhouse.

Fantasy Art

Fantasy Art Now: The Very Best in Contemporary Fantasy Art & Illustration, edited by Martin McKenna, is a collection of pieces organized by "Brawny Barbarians and Hulky Heroes," "Warrior Women and Fearless Females," "Myths and Monsters," "Sirens and Seductresses," "Witches and Warlocks," "Fairies and Fey Folk," "Scenes and Settings," and "Brawls and Battles."  I don't claim to be an expert in fantasy art, but I didn't recognize the names of any of the artists.  And a very large percentage of these pieces seemed to come from online role-playing games and collectible card sets.  I was neither inspired nor impressed.

A much better place to find good fantasy art and science fiction art is the annual Spectrum collection edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner.  (See, for example, Spectrum 16: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art.)  The coverage in these volumes includes well-known artists and up-and-coming stars as well as art in many different media.  While not every volume is stellar, most are very good, and provide both inspiration and the satisfaction of experiencing quality art.

Discipline, as in, "a lack of discipline in buying books"

Because of a severe case of bibliophilia, I have never succeeded for very long at any disciplined way of buying books. I always have more than I can read. I always find another I want. But perhaps there's another possible cure: force myself to blog on every book I buy. So here goes.

Today, at a local Half Price Books store, I bought the following.

Calvino, Italo. Six Memos for the Next Millennium. I've read virtually every piece of fiction Calvino has written that has been translated into English. My favorites are his more surreal works, like If on a winter's night a traveler and Invisible Cities. This collection of lectures addresses the question, "What should be cherished in literature?"

Hart, John. The Last Child. This mystery simply looked interesting to me.

Prigogine, Ilya. The End of Certainty: Time, Chaos, and the New Laws of Nature. Prigogine was a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. I enjoyed reading (and trying to understand) his book From Being to Becoming: Time and Complexity in the Physical Sciences as well as Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature. If you want to impress someone by being able to discuss nonequilibrium thermodynamics, read Prigogine's work. (And the answer is no, I can't explain it. Just appreciate it.)

Wondrous Strange: The Wyeth Tradition. In recent years I've come to appreciate famous illustrators, especially Frank Frazetta (discussion of whom I will save for a future posting). There's something exciting about N. C. Wyeth's work - it says so much about adventure.