As a bit of a collector, the prospect of owning a piece of original comic artwork is certainly an attractive one, but I've never quite been able to justify the cost to myself. (Although I've been very tempted by some Jack Kirby pages.)
This is apparently not a problem for everyone. The recent sale by online auction house Heritage Auctions of Egyptian Queen, an original 1969 painting by fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, set a new record for comic book artwork* with a final price of 5.4 million dollars.
Yes - 5.4 MILLION.** Now, to give this some perspective, we're talking about a painting that was produced for the cover of a comics magazine that featured black and white stories about zombies, monsters and vampires, and sold for 50 cents a copy.
In saying that, I don't mean to denigrate Frazetta's talent as an artist, but you have to admit that it does sound like a lot of money, even in the world of artificially inflated comic book art pricing
On the other hand, maybe this is history starting to make its decision about this kind of artwork.
After all, what is the role of realistic figurative illustration in the modern era? Given that it doesn't seem to have a place in the altermodern art world of conceptual abstraction and surrealism, it may well be that if Da Vinci or Michelangelo were alive today, they might have ended up following their interest in light and the human anatomy into the comic book industry, and could easily have followed the same path as Frank Frazetta.
Frazetta, who passed away in 2010, is a legendary figure in the world of fantasy artwork. Born in 1928, he began formal art training at the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 8, where he was taught by Italian artist Michele Falanga.
Following his time at the Academy, Frazetta worked on a variety of comic books and daily strips, and after doing some movie poster work in the early 1960s, came to sudden notoriety for the epic covers that he created for the Lancer editions of the Conan the Barbarian stories published in the late 1960s and early 70s. His cover painting for the 1966 edition of Conan the Adventurer put an unforgettable face on the Robert E. Howard's grim barbarian hero, and firmly established his career as a leading fantasy artist. His subsequent work for posters, book covers and album artwork was equally well received - apparently so well received that someone decided that his original painting of Egyptian Queen was worth $5.4 million.
When I mentioned this to Karli, she pointed out that this was an auction, so really, there were actually TWO bidders who decided that this painting was worth that much money. Who knows, this may just be the way that popular culture makes the transition to fine art - two people at a time.
- Sid
* Frazetta's work also held the previous record of $1.79 million for the sale of his original painting of Death Dealer 6 in May of last year.
** This is a little deceptive. The actual sale price was $4.5 million, but winning bidders also pay an premium to the auction house, which in this case brought the payment up to $5.4 million.
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