Night Attack. Men's Magazine: Action, Sex and Violence, 1960-1965 - Morton Kunstler

Sex and violence take center stage in this mid-1960s men's magazine interior story illustration. This action-packed narrative of a G.I. close-up gun battle incorporates five peak moments of drama.
Artist Mort Kunstler conceptualizes an acutely intense war scene, emphasizing the highest possible moments of tension in an unfolding gun battle. To heighten the viewer's visual experience, Künstler incorporates all these moments into a single epic scene. He captures the precise moment of a machete attack, the fiery blast from a machine gun barrel with shell casings flying, a facial and bodily reaction of a combatant taking a bullet, and the look of a fallen combatant screams as he struggles for his last living moments. Finally, a sexy, scantily dressed, bare-breasted young beauty's captivating presence dominates the composition as she reloads a pistol.
In reality, this is an impossible moment. It exists only because of the artist's conception, and that is the work's central point.
This work by Künstler is conceptual art merging with narrative art. In recent years, we have seen the Canon of Fine Art expand to include groups of artists who were formerly not considered fine artists....What about Illustration art?
Finally, the work exhibits another overlooked quality: technical academic mastery.

For anyone who has ever put pen to paper or brush to canvas, they realize how difficult it is to draw a figure or a face.
Now add acute facial expressions and dynamic body gestures, and you will realize that it is just not possible without tracing a photo. Finally, add an extreme low-angle light source that generates high contrast and long shadows.
Only a master can do it and get it right. Caravaggio knew this.
Inscribed and signed lower center .
Faint horizontal crease, about 8.5 inches, with some subsequent cracking. One small pin dot stain at upper left. Wear and markings to the board in keeping with the illustration and publishing process. Work has been adhered to the backing board and mat, Overall: 19 x 25 inches
Gouache on Illustration Board
11 1/2 - 17 1/4 in
US$15,000 Plus Shipping