I am still giddy from today's visit to the Frank Frazetta Museum in East Stroudsburg, PA. Lori Frazetta, Frank Frazetta's daughter-in-law, was a very generous and enthusiastic host to all of the museum's many visitors.
The Stroudsburg museum has a decent collection of Frazetta's most iconic paintings, including his favorite, Cat Girl. One of my favorites, Silver Warrior is also there. Apparently his first ever crayon drawing is on display from age three, which he did for his grandmother who paid him a penny. I'll bet he made many more of those before the one for he did for his grandma but without being paid. The collection ends with his last unfished painting, one of three present that he did left-handed due to a stroke. He died before completing the painting, titled Death Bringer VII. There are portraits of his mother, two sons, and other relatives, the two famous portraits of his wife and collaborator, Ellie. The portrait of his mother was amazing. I'd never seen it before. Lori said it captures her mother-in-law's character and spirit perfectly.
This is a visit I've been thinking about for almost 15 years. Here are some quick thoughts and observations before I forget.
- The portrait of his mother is beautiful, one of his very best paintings in my uneducated opinion. He didn't sign it because it's his mom, for his mom and family. Frazetta didn't do much with detail on eyes in his commercial paintings. For his mother's portrait they stand out and shine. It's odd that the painting doesn't even show up on the internet.
- Looking at the collection of prodigy art from Frazetta's boyhood days reminded me of my own Dad, who was also a prodigy artist as a youngster. I've been looking though his old drawings and paintings and selected some to take back to Mozambique with me. The art bug skipped me, but landed with both of my daughters, whose many drawings and sketches I save with the silly dream that one or both of them will before famous artists in the future.
- I loved seeing Frazetta's work at the museum covering the entirety of his life. It's impressive. He was so gifted. Lori said that Frazetta was humble, recognized he had a gift with art, but frequently stated that everyone is gifted in one way or another. Lori also emphasized that art was not Frazetta's passion, it was his job. His passion was family above all else, but passions also included sports, movies, paling around with friends.
- Figure and gesture drawings; the museum emphasizes Frazetta's paintings. I love Frazetta's ink and pencil drawings more, and the museum's collection is small. What draws me to these simpler black and white drawings? As a youngster my Dad used to take me to some of his art classes at Black Hills State College. I sat and silently watched several figure drawing classes with nude models. During my teaching licensure at Colorado State University I worked as a nude art model for figure drawing and painting classes. The drawing classes always opened with gesture warm ups, which had me doing quick poses of 20 seconds to one minute or so, and the students trying to quickly capture the essence of the pose, the gesture. As part of these lessons we saw many examples of gesture drawings from other artists, including Michelangelo. Gesture drawings try to capture movement in the human form, weight and balance, in a quick economy of lines. I was aware of Frank Frazetta at this time. I would have been around 27 and 28 and had picked up his Icon book several years earlier. It hit me almost instantly that Frazetta's "gesture" drawings, or or his quick and simple human figures, are examples of human genius. It's not just human figures, but big cats, bears, horses, wolves. The feeling, mood, and dynamic forms he captures with a few lines, or a mess of quick lines, is genius. Lori and her son Frankie Jr. found a book for me, Frazetta, published in 1981, that contains nothing but his ink drawings. It's awesome. Even more amazing is the book Rough Work, published in 2007, which has hundreds of his sketches and gesture drawings. The museum had sold out of all but five of his signed copies, which also included original ink and water color sketches he'd done on the opening page, selling for $1,500. It's so tempting!
untitled sketch
- Silver Warrior was not as impressive as I expected. First, it's small. The painting also features a lot of white. One of the joys of looking at genuine paintings to to see the true colors in the paint and the detail of the brush strokes. There's simply less of it in Silver Warrior. On the other hand, Cat Girl stands out as a captivating painting. In part it is the light illuminating the female figure. However, it is the eyes that snare the viewer. Cat Girl is one of the few Frazetta paintings that details and lingers on human eyes. In this one they are the focal point, absolutely drawing the viewer in and demanding attention. The light is on her naked breasts, which are spectacular, but it's the eyes that are truly stunning. One must see the painting in person to feel the effect of the eyes. So, no image here.
Silver Warrior
- Now I understand what masonite board is. Lori explained Frazetta's first painting done on masonite was born out of desperation, trying to paint the cover for Neanderthal in one night after procrastinating for more than one month and realizing he had no canvas. He cut out several square feet of floor board in his home to reach the masonite beneath, then cut that out to use for his painting. Neanderthal is there in the museum. The image is mostly masonite, with essentially three other colors of paint applied sparingly. He loved the effect so much that he used masonite for many more paintings. The most impressive on display in my eyes is Night Stalker, where Frazetta created a village in the distance with not much more than a few white points of light painted to the masonite that creates the effect of lit windows at night. I decided to buy a cheap $25 print of one of Frazetta's paintings on display at the museum, taking several of my favorites over the the actual paintings to compare. There was just no comparison, only contrast. The cheap prints did not do the originals justice. The one exception, which was the one I bought, is Monster from Out of Time, done on masonite and essentially all masonite for the background. The four figures in the paintings pop and do the original justice. It's a new favorite Frazetta painting of mine.
Monster From Out of Time
- The museum displayed several smaller pencil and water color drawings Frazetta did to prep for his much, much larger oil paintings. These help show off Frazetta's attention to shape and composition, with some even showing where he initially planned to emphasize detail and lighting. Frazetta did an interview explaining these are the elements of the artists craft - composition of shapes, choice of color and detail. The artistry comes from doing something new and original with these elements. A strong example in the museum of a mini-work setting the stage for the larger oil painting is Wild Ride. I love this painting. I wish I had asked Lori more about it. Lori did say that nearly all the nude females in Frazetta's works are Ellie, or Frank thinking of Ellie, seeing Ellie in his imagination. That is clearly the case in Wild Ride. I wish I could do this with my wife.
Wild Ride
- Thinking of Ellie paintings, her somewhat famous nude portrait was very surprising. Not that it was there. on display, but rather the small size of the painting and with the brush strokes being far more vigorous and less detailed than I had imagined. There is a dynamism and energy that I think come from the color palate. She clearly is ready to move onto to something else, pounce, get dressed, work on something...anything but lethargy.
portrait of Ellie
- Finally, I have to comment on one of Frazetta's strokes crippling his dominant hand, his right, so that he was no longer able to paint for several years. Lori said his doctor drove it in to him that it was not the hand that created the art, but the mind, and he still had so much creativity to let out. So, Frank taught himself how to paint with this left hand. The museum has three paintings Frazetta did left handed. My first impression of these three paintings was disappointment. The skill is so diminished. Then my thinking changed to refreshing. It was refreshing to see that Frazetta was also just man who did some subpar and mediocre work. Then amazement. He was old and feeble. He was crippled on the right side. He taught himself how to change his brain and body to produce real paintings with his left hand. Amazing. One is of a nude woman in repose looking at a leopard. It's not beautiful, but they are there, the images for which Frazetta was passionate - the naked female body and big cats. Then there is the piece he left incomplete by his death - an ambitions scene of Death Dealer in a temple like building combating nude green goblinoid females with a tentacled monster in the foreground. It's ambitious. Given more time it could have carried more force. But it is epic in the attempt. Finally there is a nude woman with two gorillas. The composition is eye catching and artistic. It is a beautiful painting and classic Frazetta in its vision. Amazing. I wish I had a picture to include here.
Death Dealer VII
