The latest installment of Great Pulp Art takes a turn to the East.
It’s the cover for the February 1932 number of Soldiers of Fortune. And, as you can see, it features a samurai warrior, illustrating an Arthur J. Burks story.
Rather than an action cover typical of many pulps, this is more of a character study. You can sense the potential energy surging through the samurai, who seems to be stalking someone or on the verge of attack.
Gerard Curtis Delano painted the striking — yet sparse — cover, which immediately focuses your attention on the face of the samurai. It’s a style you can see reflected in his fine art paintings of the West. The Massachusetts-born artist moved to Colorado in 1933 as magazine work dried up during the Depression. There he began painting Navajo and other Western scenes. He died in 1972.
It’s the unusual subject matter and the excellent artistry of Delano that make this Great Pulp Art.
Soldiers of Fortune, by the way, lasted only four issues from October 1931 to May 1932, with the February number being the third. Delano painted all four covers. It was a Clayton magazine, edited by Harry Bates. (Clayton also published under the imprints Climax, Clues Inc., Borden, National Novels, Publishers’ Fiscal, Readers’ and Three Star.)
