Frank Rudolph Paul
Frank R. Paul was born in Vienna, Austria on
April 18, 1884, He died on June 29, 1963 in Teaneck, New Jersey. Known as the
"Dean of Science Fiction" he illustrated hundreds of pulp magazine covers &
interior illustrations.
Born in Austria he studied art in Vienna,
Paris & then New York City. He began working for Gernsback Publications
doing covers & technical drawings for Gernsback's Electrical Experimentor
(later Science & Invention), Radio News & others. He was the natural
choice for the covers of Amazing Stories in 1926 & became known as the
pre-imminent sf artist of the time, igniting the immagination of many including
Al Feldstein who would go on to write, illustrate & edit Weird Science
& Weird Fantasy in the 1950's.
Paul painted all of the covers for Amazing
stories during Gernsback's ownership of the magazine. When Gernsback was forced
to sell in 1929 Paul folowed Gernsback to his new company where he painted
numerous covers for Science Wonder Stories, Air Wonder Stories, Wonder Stories
Quarterly & Wonder Stories.
When Gernsback left the pulp field, Paul did
covers for other publishers, as well as back covers for Amazing Stories &
Fantastic. He did not do much more for the pulps until Gernsback's short lived
Science Fiction Plus series in 1954. He appeared sporadically in other sf
publications until his death.
An interesting note is that sf illustration
was just a side job to him. He illustrated many techical books through out his
career & it was from them he derived the large part of his income.
Read his New
York Times Obituary by clicking this link. |