Frank Frazetta died yesterday. He was a giant; a great artist, who happened to paint commercial and genre subjects.
Best known for his vivid cover art for 1960's and 70's paperback editions of Conan, John Carter of Mars, and Tarzan stories, Frazetta also worked in comic books and Hollywood. Although this is a sad day for me, it certainly makes my posting for the next few days easier. Today, it's self-portraits of Frazetta, but I'll post some of other work over the rest of the week.
This painting is of his beloved wife, Ellie, whom he married in 1956. She passed away recently too. They are survived by three children, who in very recent months settled legal claims to the vast library of artwork left by Frazetta. He kept just about everything. One of the only paintings to hit the market, a Conan depiction, sold for $1 million.
I own one Conan print that hangs in my basement. The Official Frazetta website had pulled all the ordinary prints from circulation some time back. I only learned of it when I thought I should get a couple more. All that was left up were super expensive prints using some arcane process... The prints were beyond my price range. Hopefully the family will release another series of regular prints soon. It looks like the website is down completely today.
Goodbye, Frank Frazetta. Thank you, and you'll be missed.
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