A new book that I came across is Masterpieces of Fantasy Art. Published by Taschen in 2023, and edited by Dian Hanson, it is subtitled “Myth, Muscle, and Sexy Maidens.”
In hardback, I was surprised that it’s smaller than most Taschen books I’ve seen, as it’s 6.1- by 8-inches and over 500 pages. Each chapter is in three languages: English, French, and German. However, each chapter has different artwork, so the space is utilized well.
The focus of the work is the following artists: Julie Bell, Philippe Druillet, Frank Frazetta, H.R. Giger, the Brothers Hilderbrandt, Jeffrey Jones, Rodney Matthews, Moebius, Rowena, Sanjulian, Boris Vallejo, and Michael Whelan.
We are given a trio of chapters on the beginning of fantasy art. Each of these includes quite a lot of pulp cover art from science fiction, fantasy, and horror titles.
Several of these authors have illustrated stories and characters from the pulp magazines such as Conan and others. I was a little disappointed by the absence of some art I know from certain authors. I wasn’t expected to see any of Vallejo’s Doc Savage covers, but I would have thought we’d get Whelan’s John Carter or H.P. Lovecraft cover art.
This is more of an introduction to these artists, as there are books out there that are devoted to them. But overall this is a good volume, especially when combined with the introductory chapters.
