Customer Reviews

Walter M. Baumhofer Pulp Art Masters

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fans of pulp magazines and the art that graced them will find this, the first volume in the proposed "Pulp Art Masters" series a must have. This oversized paperback volume presents roughly 350 color cover reproductions, arranged by the various genres Belarski's illustrated (detective, air war, weird menace, etc.). The book is nicely laid out with annotations of various detail and worth along the outside edge of each page. The color reproduction is rich and sharply focused and clean up of the original pulp covers (many of which were no doubt flaked, creased, torn and otherwise marred) is masterful. In fact, the images reproduced here are probably the best these cover painting have ever looked. This is a wealth of pulp history and a great beginning for a series that is supposed to eventually include volumes devoted to Walter Baumhofer (illustrator of the Doc Savage covers) and George and Jerome Rozen (illustrators of The Shadow and Wu Fang among others). Great volume. Greater series (if all goes as planned).

After reading all of the 5 star reviews, I bought this, but I was disappointed over the small sizes of so many of the reproductions. In fact, there's only one illustration reproduced in something resembling the actual size of the original pulp cover. There's a tremendous amount of white space on the pages -- a better layout design could have utilized this space to increase the sizes of the illustrations. The printing itself is just okay. As a comparison, the covers of the Nostalgia Ventures Doc Savage series look much better than anything in this volume. Obviously there's no other choice if you want to have a book of this fine artist's work, but let's hope that someday someone else puts together a book that really does Baumhofer justice.

A great coffee table book for fans of illustration. A lot of great images to look at, if some are kind of small. But there's over 300 so, you can't beat that for the price. Check out the author's website as well if you're interested in Pulp Magazines.

I'm not sure why the copy and other reviews are for another book.

This book is the 2nd in the Pulp Art Masters series, and focuses on Walter Baumhofer, NOT Belarsky.

For most people (like myself), Walter Baumhofer is best known as the first cover artist for Doc Savage, setting the style used for the Doc covers.

This large size book focuses on the pulp cover art of Baumhofer (he later moved into the more lucritive commercial art field afterwards). The book is divided into 3 parts.

The first part focuses on the earlier years, when he worked for smaller publisher's like Hersey's Magazine Publications and the like. The second part focuses on his work at Street & Smith. Its this section that is most important to me, as its when he did the Doc Savage covers, as well as covers for many of S&S's western titles like Pete Rice. My only disappointment is that there are 4 Doc covers he did that wheren't included. And I would have liked to see them a bit larger.

The third and final section is on his work at Popular Publications. Strangely, the only pulp hero cover he did for Popular was the first cover of The Spider. The rest being various weird menace and adventure covers.

The reproduction of the artwork is great, tho it would be nice if they were larger. The info is also good. The focus is really more on the art.

Compiled and edited by John P. Gunnison, Belarski: Pulp Art Masters is an superbly organized and presented artbook showcasing the distinctive work of Rudolph Belarski, a commercial artist best known for his action-packed, eye-catching covers of (in)famous "pulp" magazines. Numerous covers presented in full-color, each with a very brief yet insightful caption concerning the scene, hallmark this eye-catching collection especially recommended for fans of the uniquely captivating appeal of pulp magazine art of a yesteryear American popular culture.

It would be impossible to collect even a fraction of these covers for yourself. Thankfully, this book preserves this very special art form for future generations who may not only wonder what "pulp" was but might indeed wonder what a "magazine" was.