Paintings of J Allen St John

Vanguard's second volume devoted to the work of J. Allen St. John concentrates on the artist's full-colour fantasy, science-fiction, and adventure paintings for novels and pulp magazines by famous authors, including Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jack Williamson, Robert E. Howard, and more. St. John is the original grand master illustrator of Tarzan, John Carter of Mars (now in major motion picture development by Pixar), and others. His illustrations inspired generations of later fantastic artists, including Roy G. Krenkel, Jeffrey Jones, and Frank Frazetta. St. John will always be recognised as the first and most important illustrator of Burroughs' writings, and this book is produced with the full endorsement and cooperation of Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. Also featured are essays by renowned science-fiction author Jack Williamson; Danton Burroughs, Lin Carter, and illustrators Vincent Di Fate and Frank Frazetta.

St. John began his career by studying the old masters in the museums of Paris around 1880. Returning to America, his notoriety among Fine Art enthusiasts developed with recognition from the Society of American Artists and Metropolitan magazine in 1889. The artist went on to become a professor of drawing and painting at both The American Academy of Art and the Chicago Art Institute, but his greatest notoriety came as he ventured into the colourful world of pulp magazine and adventure book illustration. For the readers of fantasy, science fiction, and adventure, St. John surpassed the work of his famous contemporaries Frank Schoonover, James Montgomery Flagg, and N. C. Wyeth, and led the way for future masters, including Roy G. Krenkel, the Brothers Hildebrandt, and Frank Frazetta.

Introduction by Lin Carter

Afterword by Frank Frazetta