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Sunspots, v. 6, issue 6, whole no. 26, Fall 1945
Page 10
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Fall, 1945 SUN SPOTS Page 10 * * * * * * * * * * The color scheme on a Paul cover was the most flashy that could be managed under the limitations of magazine-cover printing, although it seems quite probable that Hugo Gernsback must be held responsible for the yellow and red skies that once seemed so scandalous. The outlines of the objects on the cover ilustrations were always razor-sharp -- none of this modern haziness for Paul! Yet, strangely enough, Paul's covers were sometimes remarkably effective. Particularly on the "Wonder Stories" from 1934 to 1936, on such months as he refrained from crowding too much detail into his paintings, the covers have an appeal and power that cannot be ascribed wholly to nostalgia. Dold was probably a superior artist to Paul, although he fell far short of being any more than a magazine illustrator. However, the comparison is not easy to make: Paul's interior work was nearly always hurried, and marred more by his failure to use certain tricks of the trade than by clumsiness. Several of Dold's illustrations for "The Mightiest Machine", are for sheer complexity of detail and fine work, equal to anything Virgil Finlay ever turned out. Moreover, Dold was the first of the prozine illustrators to develop real techniques of his own. For better or worse, when you saw a Dold human, you knew who had drawn that human; you got the impression that Dold knew what he was doing, but didn't particularly care whether you approved or not. Those two men made their exit from the field under forced conditions -- Paul beause of wartime duties, Dold becuse of poor eyesight. Wesso and Morey, on the other hand, just faded away. This is not too hard to understand. Morey, in particular, never was cut out for science fiction illustrating in the first place -- the manner in which he regularly excluded as many science fiction details from his interiors suggests that he never felt completely comfortable. He was responsible for an enormous number of both interiors and covers over a long span of years, particularly in the Sloane "Amazing." The contrast his work provided to the other principal artists of the day is also enormous: Morey knew how to draw recognizable, undistorted humans, although they were not discernibly different from the humans pictured in the detective and western magazines of the day. When he was let loose on a cover, Morey might end up with anything from a really attractive, convincing piece of work to the monstrosities that appeared around 1937 on "Amazing." Wesso was one of the vanguard of the new school, which came in at the same time as the new stf. His drawings had an atmosphere about them, but were seldom memorable. Science fiction could use nim today...The sins of the four men were manifold, their talents not great when judged from the criteria of real art, and they belonged to a day that is irrevocably vanished...But the charges of BEM's did not resound when they were active. finis
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Fall, 1945 SUN SPOTS Page 10 * * * * * * * * * * The color scheme on a Paul cover was the most flashy that could be managed under the limitations of magazine-cover printing, although it seems quite probable that Hugo Gernsback must be held responsible for the yellow and red skies that once seemed so scandalous. The outlines of the objects on the cover ilustrations were always razor-sharp -- none of this modern haziness for Paul! Yet, strangely enough, Paul's covers were sometimes remarkably effective. Particularly on the "Wonder Stories" from 1934 to 1936, on such months as he refrained from crowding too much detail into his paintings, the covers have an appeal and power that cannot be ascribed wholly to nostalgia. Dold was probably a superior artist to Paul, although he fell far short of being any more than a magazine illustrator. However, the comparison is not easy to make: Paul's interior work was nearly always hurried, and marred more by his failure to use certain tricks of the trade than by clumsiness. Several of Dold's illustrations for "The Mightiest Machine", are for sheer complexity of detail and fine work, equal to anything Virgil Finlay ever turned out. Moreover, Dold was the first of the prozine illustrators to develop real techniques of his own. For better or worse, when you saw a Dold human, you knew who had drawn that human; you got the impression that Dold knew what he was doing, but didn't particularly care whether you approved or not. Those two men made their exit from the field under forced conditions -- Paul beause of wartime duties, Dold becuse of poor eyesight. Wesso and Morey, on the other hand, just faded away. This is not too hard to understand. Morey, in particular, never was cut out for science fiction illustrating in the first place -- the manner in which he regularly excluded as many science fiction details from his interiors suggests that he never felt completely comfortable. He was responsible for an enormous number of both interiors and covers over a long span of years, particularly in the Sloane "Amazing." The contrast his work provided to the other principal artists of the day is also enormous: Morey knew how to draw recognizable, undistorted humans, although they were not discernibly different from the humans pictured in the detective and western magazines of the day. When he was let loose on a cover, Morey might end up with anything from a really attractive, convincing piece of work to the monstrosities that appeared around 1937 on "Amazing." Wesso was one of the vanguard of the new school, which came in at the same time as the new stf. His drawings had an atmosphere about them, but were seldom memorable. Science fiction could use nim today...The sins of the four men were manifold, their talents not great when judged from the criteria of real art, and they belonged to a day that is irrevocably vanished...But the charges of BEM's did not resound when they were active. finis
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