Now that I have had the chance to go through the small number of photos I took at the Frank Frazetta museum located at his home in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, I need to do a second entry on the topic. In my previous post I mentioned my admiration of two little known paintings, a portrait Frazetta did of his mother, and a left handed painting of gorillas and a nude female which he did near the end of his life. It turns out I have photos of both, and did not think that was the case in my original post.
Again I feel the need to thank Lori Frazetta for giving us a tour and spending time to answer many of my questions. She was informative, gracious, and shared some stories and thoughts that were on the personal side. Link to the museum website here. https://www.frazettamuseum.com/
Lori's grandkids instructed us not to take close up or detailed photos of any of the art work, so none of my photos here will be mind blowing.
First, that portrait Frazetta did of his mother. You can see part of the nude painting Frank Frazetta did of his wife, Ellie, for a size comparison. What jumps out to me with his mother's portrait is an immediate sense of warmth, detail is on her eyes and smile. I mentioned previously that Frazetta rarely put details into eyes. Here are two paintings where he did, his mother and his wife. With most of Frazetta's sketches of women, and I think his paintings too, he does very little with the nose. It's part of the famous Frazetta girl esthetic. Here his mother has a wonderful nose full of detail. The overall composition is not standard portrait. There's a real sense of movement, of breath, of solidity and strength. You can collect all of Frazetta's drawings and paintings of women with blades and spears ready for combat or defense and none look as strong as his mother. I do think this is one of Frank Frazetta's very best paintings. I love it.
Portrait Frank Frazetta painted of his mother
Second, I mentioned previously that I was at first disappointed by Frazetta's post-stroke left-handed paintings. There are three in the museum. My feeling of disappointment changed to satisfaction that he also did mediocre work, and then to amazement that he did any of these paintings at all. He was, after all, old, crippled, and painting with his left hand after a stroke took away his ability to use his right hand and not being able to paint at all for several years. Of the three paintings, I felt one was quite beautiful. He titled it Gorillas. I could not find an image on the internet and did not think I took a photo, but I did. Here it is along with a photo of Frazetta drawing with his left hand. I hope I didn't take this at too close a distance. There is enough here to appreciate the detail beyond the composition and color. The gorillas and nude female still carry some of Frazetta's wicked and dynamic posturing, but are strictly in profile, which was very unusual in his pre-stroke drawings and paintings.
Frazetta's left handed painting Gorillas
I mentioned I enjoyed seeing many rough prep sketches and water colors Frazetta did as he organized ideas and composition for his larger oil paintings. Below is Wild Ride along with the initial water color. I have read that Frazetta did not spent much time painting, my impression being that he completed one or two paintings a month in the space of one day per painting. Lori emphasized he did most of his painting at night in one long burner of a session, and I've read similar stories. He spent his ample free time with family and enjoying himself. Painting was work and it took up a small portion of each month. I've read that Frazetta loved doing photography and being outside, doing physical things out of doors. For all this, I still get the sense that he sketched frequently. He also spent time redoing his paintings. However, look around the internet and in Frazetta art books and there are hundreds of pencil and ink sketches, and a good number of simple water color "sketches". I am sure he was drawing something virtually every day. My older daughter, Solveig, is drawing in all her free time every day, doodles and sketches. Frazetta's sketches are amazing. I enjoy them far more than his paintings. The dynamism he pulls from a modicum of lines is often genius. He gets so much story and fun out of such simple little things. So, below are Wild Ride with the accompanying sketch, and some closer ups of sketches I photographed through a glass cases. I don't think those count as actual close up photos that are forbidden because the glass obscures the detail. I apologize for the poor quality of my photos, but they do carry across Frazetta's composition.
Frazetta's Wild Ride with a rough water color below for preparation
Frazetta's rough pencil and ink sketch of two figures observing a dinosaur
Frazetta's pencil and ink sketches of a woman facing a bull
I'll have to do a separate post on nude figure drawing and gesture drawing. Frank Frazetta is one of the all time greats in this regard, and the topic brings back interesting memories of when I was a nude art model. To end this post I'll add a few broader photos to give a better sense of the museum in hopes that other folks will make the visit. It's worth it! https://www.frazettamuseum.com/
Frazetta's easel with his painting of Satan and Hell that Ellie Frazetta despised and never allowed to leave the studio. It appears Frank worked on it at many different times. In the back are paintings he did of Maasai warriors for Ellie, who had a passion for African pieces. Lori explained that beside the large original painting of a single warrior is a smaller painting of the same theme, but it is only a small copy of the original (white dots in the corner of frames denote copies) which Frank sold in order to pay a bill without Ellie's knowledge. She was upset at the loss of a favorite painting, so Frank painted her a new one, same size and same theme. The differences between the two figures are very striking. The original warrior appears far more threatening, while the new warrior appears friendly. His red cape is also drawn aside, showing his full, large penis. The original warrior's groin is covered by his cape. I guess this change was an extra treat for Ellie's loss of the original painting.
Death Dealer III Revised and copy of the unrevised original below, with Silver Warrior to the left and Barbarian with Axe to the right, both originals.
Cat Girl, final revision, copy of original Cat Girl below, and to the left is a peak at The Huns, which is brilliant. In both of these paintings the colors must to be seen to be fully appreciated. I think that is the corner frame for Silver Warrior to the right, which literally pales in comparison to Cat Girl. That face and those eyes, even in shadow, trap the viewer. When not looking at Cat Girl in person, it's very obviously her breasts that stand out. In person it's her eyes.
Both original paintings of Atlantis, the only other work for which Frazetta revised a painting by doing a completely new one, if the Maasai warrior is included. The differences are again very striking. Lori pointed out that the revised, second painting has the concealed image of a woman holding up the warrior.
Frazetta's The Mammoth. I don't recall what is to the right and left. The mammoth's eyes are incredible. This is one of Frazetta's great masterpieces.
In the foreground is a collection of paintings done by Frank's children, mostly Frank Jr. The image of Spider-Man is a copy. On the rear wall is a line of famous Frazetta paintings, including Night Stalker and Monster From Out of Time done on masonite boards. The much more famous Black Star is also there. It's an impressive painting collection.
Paintings Frazetta did in his youth. The lute he painted at age eight. He gave it to his aunt, Lori said perhaps because it wasn't very good. The metal horse appears in another painting he did later that year which is much better and the painting stayed with him. I don't recall at which age he did the upper two paintings. I believe he was already enrolled in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts, so pre teen or teenager. The dog and lamb are a copy of another painting which Lori said his mother liked, so Frank painted her a copy.
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