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Editorial

Magnifique!
by Sheila Williams

Hannes Bok Mask

I had a stunning experience at the 2022 World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Erle Korshak, art collector and SF publisher, had been named a Chicon 8 Guest of Honor. Alas, Erle died before the convention took place. Erle had amassed a collection of Illustrations of Imaginative Literature. This collection was enriched and expanded by his son Stephen, who is also an art collector. In tribute to Erle, an awesome sampling of the Korshak Family Collection was on display at the convention.

I entered the room that housed the collection and walked to the right, viewing electrifying works by James Allen St. John, Arthur Rackham, Roy Krenkel, Michael Kaluta, Margaret Brundage, Frank Frazetta, Hannes Bok, Frank R. Paul, and many other wonderful artists. Authors whose work was represented by these illustrations included Edgar Rice Burroughs, Dorothy Quick, Robert Heinlein, Roger Zelazny, and Lewis Carroll.

I was enjoying each piece and slowly taking them in as I walked around the room, but I was completely unprepared for the vision I encountered when I reached the far-left wall. It seemed as though Frank E. Schoonover’s original art for ERB’s A Princess of Mars magically appeared. The Schoonover painting would dominate any family room. John Carter stands bravely in front of Dejah Thoris. A raised sword in his right hand while his left arm stretches out to protect her. My eye was drawn immediately to Dejah. She looks serious, but not frightened. She is covered in a huge swath of red material. Knowing Dejah, it’s not a dress. The artist appears to be using a robe or a blanket to cover her nudity. To me it seems to symbolize blood and danger and, most importantly, the red planet Mars. If I had been Countess Olga de Coude in the opening chapter of The Return of Tarzan, I might have ejaculated, “Magnifique!” Instead, I stood there and eruditely exclaimed, “Wow, Wow, Wowwwww!”

Hearing my outburst, a young woman approached and introduced herself as Lauren Stump, the collection’s curator. Lauren gave me a mini history of some of the art. She reminded me that in 2017 I had interacted peripherally with the collection. The Korshak Collection had advertised in Asimov’s for a traveling exhibition. One stop was New York’s Society of Illustrators, which hosted the exhibition at the Museum of Illustration. I had been planning to attend the opening reception, but was disappointed to discover that it conflicted with the Nebula Awards weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and New York City at the same time.

Alma Korshak, Sheila Williams, Stephen Korshak

About a week after Chicon 8, Lauren emailed to thank me for my enthusiastic response to the art on display in Chicago and to let me know that if I was ever in the Orlando, Florida, area she would set up a private tour of the full collection.

In March 2024 I made sure I had some free time while vacationing in Florida. Lauren was not available, but Stephen Korshak generously agreed to be my tour guide. About half his pieces, including A Princess of Mars, were on loan to an exhibition. Although sorry to miss another chance to view the princess, the works that remained were remarkable.

Stephen explained the intellectual principles that guided his collection. The emphasis was on illustration, but the interpretation of illustration could be taken broadly. In an introduction to the works, he’s written: “The collection is a vision of the fantastic. It is one of great illustrators, as well as illustrations that had a great influence on imaginative literature.”

In Chicago I’d been impressed by a surreal, colorful, and vibrant wrap-around Hannes Bok illustration for Roger Zelazny’s “A Rose for Ecclesiastes.” Here, two eerie masks that Bok had sculpted also amazed me. It was intriguing to see a three-dimensional representation of this artist’s work.

Stephen had sought to make the collection inclusive and international. I found the illustration for Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” by the French artist Edmund Dulac, breathtaking. Painted in shades of blue and gray, at first it seems as though the illustration simply depicts city rooftops and a church. A closer look reveals that the Snow Queen has formed out of the cascading snow and ice.

The colors in a lovely Virgil Finlay had not reproduced well on the April 1956 issue of Other Worlds Science Stories. On display in the collection, the delicate greens, golds, and pinks shone through. My friend Amelia Beamer, who’d accompanied me, took a photo of our hosts, Stephen and his wife Alma, and me in front of the painting. Stephen and Alma also graciously treated us to a splendid feast of wine and cheese and grilled asparagus and much more. The afternoon was truly magnifique!

 

Copyright © 2024 Sheila Williams

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