What would come to be popularly known as pulp magazines had been
published in the USA as early as the mid 1890s,
but it wasn't until the early 1900s that illustrated covers started to become the norm.
Quite a few of the illustrations on their covers were uncredited and so were most of
the monochrome chapter headings which began to feature in some of the magazines at this time.
But by the end of the first decade of the 20th century colour cover art by some of
the most established illustrators in the USA, including Joseph Leyendecker and
N. C. Wyeth were quite commonplace, and their signatures invariably appeared on their images.
Less well established illustrators such as the Russian emigré Modest Stein and home grown talent
Clinton Pettee used their appearances as a means of projecting themselves into a wider market.
But although Paul Stahr already had a strong reputation as an illustrator
for more mainstream publications, he joined the ranks of those attracted
to pulp cover art, and so did the equally respected and successful
Frank Schoonover who also contributed to the occasional pulp cover in the early 1920s.
By this point Modest Stein had become a ubiquitous presence,
and he was joined by less well known but equally talented illustrators such as Stockton Mulford.
By the mid 1920s most of the bigger names such as Wyeth had departed,
but their places were quickly occupied by younger artists,
and by this time the pulp market was a significant part of the publishing business
which had diversified into sub-genres such as detective, romance, western and science fiction.
And by now the widespread use of chapter headings was being replaced by more
meaningful monochrome illustrations to enhance the published stories.
Although many continued to be anonymous some did actually get a printed credit or signature. But
payment for page illustrations was notoriously poor and at this time they were usually produced
by lesser known illustrators whose names have not endured as well as the cover artists.
Science fiction and fantasy had become particularly popular by the later 1920s and
artists such as Frank R. Paul made a reputation working for magazines such as Amazing Stories.
Although not the greatest of draughtsmen his work was quite visionary and he is now
considered to have been a seminal figure in the development of science fiction art.
Around the same time the less well known Leo Morey also produced a handful of covers for
the same magazine, but was more frequently to be found creating black and white page illustrations.
Undoubtedly one of the most successful pulp magazines was Weird Tales. And One
of their earliest and most popular illustrators was J. Allen St. John.
He specialised in the bare-chested fantasy side of speculative fiction and his rousing
covers were guaranteed to snare the reader with the promise of more excitement inside.
Others found a niche for themselves in other genres and From 1930 onwards
Walter Baumhofer built his reputation with more homespun adventure and a nice
line in covers for several western themed pulps.
Although when launched in 1931 the first edition of The Shadow featured a recycled image painted a
decade earlier by Modest Stein, the cover art for subsequent issues was taken over by Jerome Rozen.
But he only lasted for 4 editions before being replaced by his twin George,
whose dramatic painted imagery appeared on the next 200 issues.
But he suffered serious injuries in a car crash in 1938 and In 1939 Graves Gladney took
over the illustration of the covers, followed by others including the ever present Modest Stein.
Similarly there were several different illustrators whose monochrome line work
was published within the pages of the Shadow during its immensely popular run,
including Edd Cartier and Tom Lovell at various stages of its production.
The promise of sexual titillation was never far from many pulp covers and some such as Enoch
Bolles and Earle K. Bergey created many racy pinup style images promising more than the magazines
actually delivered in terms of provocative content. And quite a few others such as the lesser
known Cardwell Higgins made sure their images had an element of female glamour well to the fore.
Although some featured on a wide range of titles,
many others such as Howard V. Brown gravitated to particular genres and in
the main he exploited the popularity of science fiction with his work for Astounding Stories.
Margaret Brundage was one of very few female illustrators to have worked in pulps, and made
a great reputation for herself with the highly distinctive cover art she created for Weird Tales.
Her dark sexually provocative illustrations forst appeared in
the early 1930s and all her covers were decadent and compelling in their appeal.
she became a dominant factor in the ongoing success of the magazine for years to come And
she is rightly now revered as one of the most significant figures in the history of pulp art.
In the mid 1930s she was joined at Weird Tales by Virgil Finlay, who quickly became a ubiquitous
presence. His colour covers were as accomplished and enticing as those of others but it was his
astonishingly detailed expressive monochrome page illustrations for which he is now best remembered.
The cover art of H. J. Ward began to appear in the mid 1930s and over the coming decade he created a
large volume of particularly exciting skilfully rendered colour illustrations. Unfortunately he
died at the age of 35 in 1945, and consequently his career was briefer than some others.
New talent was emerging on a continuous basis, and as the 30s turned to the 40s illustrators such as
Rudolph Belarski gained a solid reputation for the quality and dramatic appeal of their work.
Canadian Hubert Rogers began to make his presence felt around the same time,
and although he worked in a wide range of pulp covers he
was arguably most successful with the series he created for Astounding Science Fiction.
Among the many significantly talented and technically able illustrators to feature
in pulps around this time was Harold McCauley.
His illustrations began to appear in the later 1930s and His expressive paintings had great
solidity and he brought memorable surrealist and erotic qualities to his series of science
fiction covers for quite a few more years even into the mid 1950s when pulp was in decline.
Despite the male dominance in pulp art in the 1940s Gloria Stoll Karn became only the second
female to make significant inroads into their domain with a series of expressively painted
covers. Many of the images she produced were for hardbitten detective tales of the kind
beloved by Hollywood at this time. But her later work also appeared in more romantic
stories aimed at a female readership. All of it was remarkably well conceived and executed.
However, Not long after she abandoned commercial work altogether.
Norman Saunders covered pretty much all the genre bases and his images were always plausible however
improbable the subject. He was another illustrator who refused to be corralled into just one type of
fiction, and created imagery for science fiction, detective stories and westerns, all of which was
created with great dexterity and a keen eye for the evocation of dramatic situations.
Although Earle K. Bergey had started out with sexually suggestive covers by the 40s he
featured more prominently in the fantasy titles Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder stories.
Nevertheless he made sure there was at least one attractive female figure on every cover,
as an enticement to the potential reader.
Due to the presence of monochrome talents such as Virgil Finlay the page black and
whites had by this point seen a marked rise in quality, and following his earlier success
with The Shadow Edd Cartier's immaculate drawings featured regularly, with a a highly accomplished
drawn style which earned him a reputation similar to Finlay's. And although he too
would be best known for his monochromes he also created a few very arresting covers in his time.
By the 40s fellow Shadow contributor Tom Lovell had also become a significant graphic presence
and was regularly featuring in colour as a cover artist for mostly detective themed magazines
Lawrence Sterne Stevens didn't even begin his career as a pulp artist until he was
well into his 50s, but despite his career being quite brief he was very successful with
his work mostly for horror and fantasy titles in skilfully painted colour and in monochrome too.
In fact he was so late that he was in competition with his equally talented
son Peter, who was working for other pulps at the same time.
But others who made n impression in the 40s were considerably less conventional.
Boris Dolgov produced a series of spectacularly strange and gaudy images
for weird tales which were clearly far from realistic representations,
and he wasn't the only one. The similarly styled Matt Fox also appeared on
the covers of Weird Tales at this time and so did the work of Lee Brown Coye, into the early 1950s.
And although Hannes Bok's science fiction work used a a more sophisticated paint
application on his cover work the figures, both human and alien he
created were far more cartoon-ish and less overtly representational than most.
But despite the inroads made by these more idiosyncratic talents pulp generally remained
broadly realistic in both monochrome and colour and the period also saw some
remarkably sophisticated monochromes created by Everett Raymond Kinstler.
And there were a also quite a few impressively accomplished painted colour covers created by
relative newcomer Allen Andersen, who was particularly successful in the
science fiction market, with his strong emphasis on desirable female characters.
And although he too was late for the party in the early 1950s Albert Fisher also created some
highly plausible painted work, in his case exclusively for detective titles.
But Nothing lasts forever of course, and by the middle of the decade most pulp
magazines were struggling to stay afloat, with rapidly falling numbers of readers,
who were increasingly being tempted by the advent of sensationalist paperback novels
which were visually promising all manner of sleazy goings on for the prurient reader.
And in addition to the paperbacks there was also a new generation of adventure magazines
aimed primarily at the male reader, which were considerably better printed on better
quality paper. And the art created for them not only took its cue from pulp's blend of sex,
violence and adventure, but also took it to greater visual extremes.
For more than half a century pulp magazines had been a significant popular American cultural
phenomenon, and at their heyday issues of some titles were known to sell above a million copies.
But Because of their populist appeal they have historically been considered lowbrow
by critics and the images created have tended to be tarred with the same brush.
But from the later years of the 20th century onwards this
critical condescension has at least to some extent evaporated and across the planet,
but particularly in the USA there are now quite a few devotees and collectors who continue to
give the illustrators who worked in this arena the attention and appreciation they deserve.
And I'm sure many of these illustrators would be
more than a little surprised by their new-found respectability.