Artwork Details

Description

(Graphite on Bainbridge illustration board - 13" x 18.5") Like so many I grew up with Frazetta prints in my bedroom, art books on my shelves, novels I bought for the covers. In fact I was drawn to his art even before I knew who he was. His illustrations and paintings I found so inspiring and beautiful, so when I started collecting original art I kept my eye out for a nice piece that I could frame and be content with. Ok so maybe this is a little over the top for my first Frazetta. I'm a pencil fanatic, it's the one medium I can actually comfortably draw with, so I would be hard pressed to find another drawing on the planet that I would be happier to be the custodian of! Two days before Frank's sad passing I had decided to go for this drawing, else I may ultimately regret it. I had spent the previous days poring over the net looking at nearly every piece Frank had produced during his magnificent career. And then I woke to the sad news, and hence this is a bittersweet moment. It is hard to express the emotion of holding one of his drawing masterpieces in your hands. One of the greatest joys I get when I hold a piece of art is knowing that the artist is somewhere producing more fantastic work, kind of makes me feel part of their creative life. So now I have this piece as a memory of such an inspirational master. I'll let the art speak for itself. A little history on the piece borrowed heavily from various sources: Around 1990 Russ Cochran endeavoured to publish a completely illustrated very special combined edition of TARZAN OF THE APES and THE RETURN OF TARZAN, and commissioned Frazetta to do the first two pencil illustrations (of twelve) for that project. This piece, the first, shows one of the most important scenes in the first Tarzan books, the savage rite of the Dum-Dum, when the apes worked themselves into a frenzy, circling an earthen mound, hitting it with their fists and clubs, as if defeating an enemy. The second drawing shows Tarzan swinging to the rescue of Jane, and from my understanding from CAF and Heritage the second piece is lost or stolen. As It turned out, they were the only two drawings Frazetta would do for this Tarzan project that never got off the ground. This drawing is also one of the largest finished pencil drawings ever done by Frazetta, and from what I can tell, it is his most "rendered" at this size. My research is only as good as what I have read so if any of this info is incorrect please let me know =) I have to sincerely thank Russ and Angie for being so professional and making the whole acquisition stress free and as smooth as silk =) And thanks everyone for reading.