By: Brian M. Kane Publisher: Flesk Publications Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 160 Publication Date: October 15, 2006 Studio: Flesk Publications
Product Description: The illustration art of James Bama has now been collected into this impressive 160-page full color hardbound edition. James Bama: American Realist is the first book to span his entire career. Examples explore his diverse brush from magazine illustrations, paperback book covers, and advertising. Chapters examine his work in pop culture, horror, science fiction, adventure and western genres, concluding with his most recent fine art endeavors. This volume features a detailed biography exploring his noteworthy and singular career. Insightful quotes by Bama accompany many pieces. In addition, testimonials by leading artists, writers, and historians are contained throughout. During his career, Bamas art graced many memorable pop culture paperback book covers. Among his most notable works are the 62 cover paintings for Bantams Doc Savage adventure series, all of which are contained within. Over 260 illustrations are featured, of which more than 85 are from the original art. Over 30 personal photographs of family and modeling shoots are contained within.
Wonderful book-but what's up with the Doc Savage paintings? ^ This hardback collection of James Bama's work is a must for collectors of the realist style. Famous for his paperback covers and Aurora model covers, this book has one glaring flaw stopping it from getting five stars. Bama's most famous body of work is his 60s Doc Savage covers. Many of these are reproduced here-in the smallest format of any of the works covered. The sports and war covers are often given full page or half pages to each cover. The Doc Savages are six to a page. The Aurora Universal horror model paintings are given a full page each. Six full pages reproduction (as well as smaller ones of course) of sports, 11 war, 9 horror ans sci-fi, 3 for Doc Savage plus one title page. The rest of the covers are 6 to a page-with a third of the page taken up by text and dead space so the images are about 1/3 of a page tall. I don't know if this is because the other previous collections have these covers, but it makes them hard to see the detail. In fact, they're much smaller than the actual paperback size.
realism at its best ^ Bama is an american treasure. His work in this format spans a-z. From earliest to latest, which most people who are fans of western art already know. Those of us who remember the comic book covers, the western paperback books, and horror movies,never knew the man behind the brush. I've had the pleasure of meeting and knowing him a little bit, from my days in Wyoming. He is as real as his artwork. As nice a human as you'd ever know. He honestly critiqued my work when I was in the Cody art league. He'd always take time to talk about his work or the weather. His native portraits treat them with the dignity and honor they so deserve. His work speaks to us about the subject and you are allowed to see them and their lives.I am partial, but any fan of realism and people, will be taken by his magnificent work.
the early
Is it real? Or is it James Bama? ^ There was Frazetta, and there was Bama. James friggin' Bama, who back in the 1960s did for Doc Savage what Frank Frazetta did for Conan, which is make them relevant again and popular again. Being a sci-fi/fantasy/pulp enthusiast, I was blown away by James Bama's covers of Lester Dent's Doc Savage novels. But, of course, Bama did so much more than paint Doc Savage. Even Frazetta is an admirer of Bama's work (but of course it wouldn't be a surprise if Bama reciprocated this sense of admiration).
To quote Bama in an unpublished statement he penned in 1979: "I should like to think that what I am doing is somewhat unique and not very derivative and dread being categorized or grouped other than in very broad terms such as 'twentieth century realist.'" Bama's uniqueness is easily enough demonstrated by the immediacy with which his covers pop out on bookstore shelves. Even when one factors in all the copycats, his stuff still jumped out and grabbed you. I remember, because glimpsing one of his Doc Savage covers back in the '80s is how I started collecting Dent's Man of Bronze adventures. His stuff simply stands out from the rest, unique. Another Bama cover (it was either THE SKY-LINERS or THE BROKEN GUN) also led me to Louis L'Amour, who would quickly become my preferred author of western novels.
Bama's professional illustrating career started out in advertising, in which area he thrived because of his stunning realistic style and his ability to always meet deadlines. Later in life, he switched up and entered the field of fine arts, again unsurprisingly running into success and acclaim. The breadth of Bama's range is staggering. As a commercial illustrator, he painted soldiers at war, professional athletes, famous persons and classic movie monsters. He painted rebellious teens and sultry vixens, beggars and old women, and rendered them all so lifelike that you gaze for minutes and minutes at the attention to detail and the texture and that omnipresent yet undefinable inner glow. Some of his paintings leave me dumbfounded and wondering just how in hoolies he does what he does. Even writing luminaries such as Ray Bradbury and Pearl S. Buck have praised James Bama for his covers to their stories. Bama need never fear that his art will be thought of as "derivative."
Frazetta is a god, and he produced masterpieces etched in exagerrated, pulse-pounding swagger and bold colors. But with James Bama, the margin between reality and art blurs like a mother. Bama injects testosterone in his works by making his paintings so photorealistic that they're rendered very real and possible, no matter how outrageous the content, how implausible the stage. The convincing beads of sweat, that light playing just so on a glistening ripping muscle, the deep wrinkles and folds on his subjects' wardrobe, the natural (okay, okay, maybe just a wee bit contrived) poses... All this smacks of "real." If you want to get bedazzled, simply take a peep at the exceptional "Chester Medicine Crow" (page 149), which at first glance you'd mistake for a black and white photo, until you notice the caption indicating that Bama produced this bit of awesome via technical pen and ink! And when Bama draws the likeness of a celebrity, he doesn't leave you wondering "Hey, that kinda looks like Paul Newman." You know instinctively, like the sun in the sky, that the figure in the painting IS Paul Newman, even if drawn in profile (this was a promo for COOL HAND LUKE). Not even the god Frazetta, as much as I bow down to him, can achieve such uncanny likeness.
As this book states, James Bama's work was a barometer of the times, an artistic visual interpretation of pop culture in the '60s and '70s. Some of his seminal stuff in this era include his box cover artwork for a series of film monster model kits, which contributed to the "Monster Craze" in the '60s. His Frankenstein painting started it off. His painting for the cover of Hal Ellson's TOMBOY drew imitators out of the woodwork, as paintbrushing apers soon began regurgitating covers of rebel teens caught in like insouciant poses (but mostly of hip kids leaning against buildings). Bama's cover for William Goldman's THE TEMPLE OF GOLD was groundbreaking in the sense that he lent credibility to covers with empty white backgrounds, this originally thought not to be a selling aesthetic.
But, for fanboys (fanfogies?) like me, the bread and the butter were in those monochromatic Doc Savage covers, which I think more than anything embody Bama's marrying of exquisite technical craftsmanship and larger than life flavoring. And, terrific book that this is, all 62 Doc Savage covers are herein reproduced. To top it off, my favorite Doc Savage painting (THE PHANTOM CITY) makes it as the cover to JAMES BAMA: AMERICAN REALIST. Yes, I actually own all the Doc Savage novels with the James Bama covers. Which is why the Steve Holland segments come as such a welcome treat. Actor and model Steve Holland posed for many of Bama's works, and specifically for the Doc Savage stuff. The book does provide samples of Bama's photoshoots of his models, sometimes juxtapositioned with the resultant paintings, for the purpose of comparing and contrasting. Several of these photos showcase his lovely wife and former model, Lynne, whom he met on the job. One of the final pages features a wonderful reflective painting of Lynne by her hubbie.
It's a bit weird that one book can encapsulate a lifetime's work. But JAMES BAMA: AMERICAN REALIST, coming with an intro by writer Harlan Ellison, does much to fill us in on James Bama's life, personal and professional. It unveils the tapestry of his works down the years, from his time as a commercial illustrator to his foray into fine arts. As another reviewer has mentioned, what's starkly missing is Bama's thoughts and tips on and breakdowns of technical details regarding his artwork. Maybe it's better this way. If the master did unveil his techniques, odds are we his students would've taken them up and ended up failing miserably. My ego, precarious as a suicide jumper's, won't survive that.
In the ranks of remarkable twentieth century realists, James Bama joins the likes of Andrew Wyeth and Norman Rockwell. All three deserve their place at the head of the table. But there's a special beat in my heart for James Bama. When I was a kid, his fabulous art sparked my imagination and helped to widen my world, introduced me to more branches of literary fiction. I'm so glad this book is out. Be a damn shame and a deep loss should we ever let James Bama and his art slip away from us.
Bama Wama ^ Bama is an amazing American icon. American Realist takes me back to my early years where I was inspired to draw and paint from the illustrations and paintings of James Bama. He is indeed a master!
GREAT BOOK dedicated to the various AMAZING art of james bama! ^ Doc savage fans along with fans of bama-art in general will be pleased with this book! being there isnt a whole hell of a lot out there for him, or the mighty doc savage as far as new-releases of things go... great book to add along with the classic pulp and novel collections! neat aurora-model artwork too, a true masterpiece!
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