Egyptian Queen

Last updated
Egyptian Queen
Egyptian Queen by Frank Frazetta.jpg
Artist Frank Frazetta
Year1969
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions65 cm× 50.2 cm(25.5 in× 19.75 in)
LocationPrivate collection

Egyptian Queen is a painting by Frank Frazetta, made in 1969 for the cover of the horror-comic magazine Eerie . It depicts a near-nude woman leaning against a column, accompanied by a leopard on the floor and a bare-chested man in the background. The painting is among Frazetta's most famous and has been popular as a poster. The woman's face on the original magazine cover is different from later reproductions after Frazetta chose to repaint it. The original painting was sold in 2019 for 5.4 million U.S. dollars, which set a new world record for comic art.

Contents

Background

The American painter and illustrator Frank Frazetta (1928 – 2010) had a successful career in comic books and newspaper comic strips in the 1950s and early 1960s. From the mid-1960s he primarily created fantasy cover art for books and comic magazines. He was highly successful and influential within the field and many of his cover images became popular as posters. [1] From 1964 to 1972, he created cover art for James Warren's horror-comic magazines Creepy and Eerie . Frazetta later described this work as a turning point in his career and his happiest time. He said Warren did not pay much, but Frazetta was allowed to do anything he wanted and his work received very positive response. [2]

Egyptian Queen was made for the cover of Eerie #23 in 1969. [1] Frazetta said he finished the painting in a day and a half, but was unsatisfied with the woman's face and kept repainting it for three additional days. Still unsatisfied, and feeling blinded by having looked at the image so much, he submitted the painting to the magazine. When it was returned to him a couple of months later he redid the face again and was finally satisfied. The face on the magazine cover is therefore different from the one on the extant painting and later reproductions. [2]

Subject and composition

The setting of Egyptian Queen is a palace interior. The upper left part of the image is illuminated and shows a near-nude woman who looks toward the viewer and leans against a thick stone column. Her eyes are painted with kohl and she wears a plumed headdress, a minimal and swirly shaped cover for her large breasts, and a long, blue and green cloth attached to her hips. Below the column is a short set of stairs covered by a carpet with a papyrus flower pattern. At the foot of the stairs is a crouching leopard, wearing a collar attached to a chain that hangs loose on the floor. In the background to the right, in a darker part of the picture, is a bare-chested and muscular man who wears a headcloth and carries a drawn scimitar. [3] Egyptian Queen is painted in oil on stretched canvas. The image area is 25.5 in × 19.75 in (64.8 cm × 50.2 cm). [1]

Reception

Egyptian Queen is one of Frazetta's most famous, reproduced and influential works. [1] [4] It has been popular as a poster and other painters have created tributes to it. [1] [5] In his book about the history of horror comics, Richard J. Arndt says the painting deserves its high status and attributes its appeal to a "dynamic use of lighting and shadow (along with some nicely done near-nudity)". [4]

J. David Spurlock writes in his book Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta (2020) that the revision of the woman's face changes the purpose of Egyptian Queen. The face on the magazine cover looks frightened and tells a story of how the wild cat is about to attack the queen, making the picture suitable for the cover of a horror magazine. According to Spurlock, Frazetta then repainted the face to look as beautiful as possible, which reveals an ambition to turn the painting into fine art. [6] In a 2015 doctoral dissertation, Nicole McCleese writes that the woman staring toward the viewer does not look helpless or threatened. McCleese counts Egyptian Queen to the minority of Frazetta's depictions of women where this is the case, grouping it with Tiger Woman (a.k.a.Sun Goddess, 1970) and Sun Goddess (a.k.a.Savage Pellucidar, 1972), which also appear to show women in control of big cats. [7] In 2020, Andrew Firestone of Screen Rant called Egyptian Queen a "tremendous example" of Frazetta's ethic. He wrote that the composition directs the viewer to gradually discover a narrative and interpreted the queen as the person in power in the scene, which for Firestone provides both a "brilliantly imagined and executed" sexual metaphor and a mystery regarding its meaning. [3]

Provenance

Eerie #23 was published by Warren Publishing in September 1969 with Egyptian Queen on its cover. [4] The magazine included a comic inspired by the painting, titled "Beyond Nefera's Tomb", with a script by Bill Parente and art by Ernie Colón. The comic is eight pages long and tells the story of a sorceress in ancient Egypt who tries to become immortal. [8] Warren reused Egyptian Queen for the cover of Creepy #92 in 1977. [1] The painting has appeared on the covers of paperback novels and music albums. [5] It is the cover image of the art books The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta (1975) and Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta (2020). [9] [10]

The original painting belonged to Frazetta's family until it was sold through Heritage Auctions on May 16, 2019. The buyer paid 5.4 million U.S. dollars, which set a new world record for a Frazetta painting and for original comic-book art sold at a public auction. [11] The previous record for a Frazetta painting was held by Death Dealer 6 (1990), which sold for 1.79 million U.S. dollars in May 2018. Egyptian Queen also set a new record for the highest price for any item sold at Heritage Auctions. [11] In June 2023, Frazetta's Dark Kingdom (1976) was sold for 6 million U.S. dollars, beating Egyptian Queen's previous record for fantasy art. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Frazetta</span> American illustrator and painter (1928–2010)

Frank Frazetta was an American artist known for themes of fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of fantasy art", and one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century. He was also the subject of a 2003 documentary Painting with Fire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Bisley</span> British comic book artist

Simon Bisley is a British comic book artist best known for his 1990s work on ABC Warriors, Lobo and Sláine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reed Crandall</span> American cartoonist

Reed Leonard Crandall was an American illustrator and penciller of comic books and magazines. He was best known for the 1940s Quality Comics' Blackhawk and for stories in EC Comics during the 1950s. Crandall was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boris Vallejo</span> Peruvian-American painter (born 1941)

Boris Vallejo is a Peruvian-American painter who works in the science fiction, fantasy, and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have appeared on the covers of numerous science fiction and fantasy fiction novels. They are also sold through a series of annual calendars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vampirella</span> Fictional vampire character

Vampirella is a fictional vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1, a sister publication of Creepy and Eerie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Krenkel</span>

Roy Gerald Krenkel, who often signed his work RGK, was an American illustrator who specialized in fantasy and historical drawings and paintings for books, magazines and comic books.

<i>Eerie</i> (magazine) American horror-comics magazine

Eerie was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white magazine intended for newsstand distribution and did not submit its stories to the comic book industry's voluntary Comics Code Authority. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host character, Cousin Eerie. Its sister publications were Creepy and Vampirella.

Ken W. Kelly was an American fantasy artist. Over his 50-year career, he focused in particular on paintings in the sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy subgenres.

Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include After Hours, Creepy, Eerie, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Help!, and Vampirella.

Angelo Torres is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many noteworthy comic books, as well as a long-running regular illustrator for Mad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adult comics</span> Comics intended primarily or strictly for adult readers

The catch-all term adult comics typically denotes comic books, comic magazines, comic strips or graphic novels that are marketed either mainly or strictly towards adult readers. This can be because they contain material that could be considered thematically inappropriate for children, including vulgarity, morally questionable actions, disturbing imagery, and sexually explicit material.

<i>Creepy</i> (magazine) American horror-comics magazine

Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and did not carry the seal of the Comics Code Authority. An anthology magazine, it initially was published quarterly but later went bimonthly. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host character, Uncle Creepy. Its sister publications were Eerie and Vampirella.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Morrison (comics)</span>

Bill Morrison is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor. He is a co-founder of Bongo Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Suydam</span> American comic book artist (born 1953)

Arthur Suydam is an American comic book artist known for his work on Marvel Zombies, Deadpool, Black Panther, and KISS Zombies. He has done artwork for magazines including Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated and National Lampoon, while his comic book work includes Batman, Conan, Tarzan, Predator, Aliens, Death Dealer, and Marvel Zombies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basil Gogos</span> American illustrator (1929–2017)

Basil Gogos was an American illustrator best known for his portraits of movie monsters which appeared on the covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine in the 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heritage Auctions</span> American fine art and collectibles auction house

Heritage Auctions is an American multi-national auction house based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1976, Heritage is an auctioneer of numismatic collections, comics, fine art, books, luxury accessories, real estate, and memorabilia from film, music, history, and sports.

James Warren is a magazine publisher and founder of Warren Publishing. Magazines published by Warren include Famous Monsters of Filmland, the horror-comics magazines Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella, the war anthology Blazing Combat, and the science-fiction anthology 1984, among others. Contributors to Warren’s magazines included such significant artists as Neal Adams, Richard Corben, Bernie Wrightson, Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall, Steve Ditko, Frank Frazetta, Russ Heath, Esteban Maroto, Alex Niño, Sanjulián, John Severin, Tom Sutton, Angelo Torres, Al Williamson, and Wally Wood, and writers/editors including Archie Goodwin, Louise Jones, Don McGregor, and Doug Moench. He appointed Billy Graham as the first known African-American art director in mainstream, nationally distributed comic books/comics magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Yoe</span> American historian

Craig Yoe is an author, editor, art director, graphic designer, cartoonist and comics historian, best known for his Yoe! Studio creations and his line of Yoe! Books.

<i>Tales from the Crypt</i> (book) Collection of eight horror comic stories

Tales from the Crypt is a mass-market paperback collection of eight horror comic stories gathered from the pages of the EC Comics comic books of the 1950s. It is one of five such collections published by Ballantine Books between 1964 and 1966. The presentation of the material is problematic at best, since the color comic book pages are represented in black and white and broken into horizontal strips to fit the mass-market paperback format. Still, the collections are historically important. They were the first attempt to resurrect the EC comics, only a decade after public outcry had driven them off the racks. They were the first introduction of those comics to a generation of readers too young to remember them in their first run.

The Comic and Fantasy Art Amateur Press Association (CFA-APA) was founded in 1985 by Roger Hill. Its membership consists of knowledgeable fans, creators, and collectors of comic and fantasy art who write about various subjects related to those genres. The group self-publishes approximately three times a year and each issue has a theme relating to a specific creator or subject. Currently, membership is limited to 40 persons at any one time and circulation is limited to 55 issues, making the publication itself highly collectible.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Frank Frazetta Egyptian Queen Painting Original Art (1969)..." Heritage Auctions . Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  2. 1 2 Groth, Gary (1995). "Frank Frazetta" . The Comics Journal (174): 52–90. ISSN   0194-7869. Republished online: Groth, Gary (May 10, 2010). "Frank Frazetta Interview". classic.tcj.com. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Firestone, Andrew (October 19, 2020). "The Immortal Legacy of Iconic Artist Frank Frazetta". Screen Rant . Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 Arndt, Richard J. (2013). Horror Comics in Black and White: A History and Catalog, 1964–2004. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 79–80. ISBN   978-0-7864-7025-9.
  5. 1 2 Bunge, Nicole (May 2, 2019). "Frank Frazetta's 'Egyptian Queen' on the Block". ICv2 . Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  6. ↑ Spurlock, J. David (2020). Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta. Mesquite, Texas: Vanguard Publishing. p. 58. ISBN   978-1-934331-82-8 . Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  7. ↑ McCleese, Nicole (2015). Masochistic Time: Narrative Delay, Historical Performativity, and Sadomasochism in Contemporary Literature (PhD). Michigan State University. pp. 46–47. doi: 10.25335/M5WZ15 .
  8. ↑ "Eerie #23 Values". Heritage Auctions . Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  9. ↑ Frazetta, Frank; Ballantine, Betty (1975). The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta. New York City: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN   0-684-14416-6.
  10. ↑ Dohm-Sanchez, Jeffrey (December 12, 2019). "Vanguard to Publish 'Fantastic Paintings of Frazetta'". ICv2 . Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  11. 1 2 "Frank Frazetta's 'Egyptian Queen' Sets $5.4 Million World Record At Heritage Auctions". Antiques and the Arts Weekly . May 17, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  12. ↑ Boucher, Brian (June 28, 2023). "A Frank Frazetta Painting of a Brawny Warrior Sold for $6 Million, Making It the World's Highest-Priced Work of Comic Book or Fantasy Art Ever". Artnet . Retrieved July 2, 2023.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.