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what makes a masterpiece?

99 posts in this topic

Love the Daredevil 11 (never owned one) :applause: and CDNP 42 (a local buddy owns the Church copy) :applause:

 

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Name: Bill Everett

 

Steve, what happened, did you accidently smear vasoline on that cover?

 

:signfunny: (it's a glossinator shot from the old days :headbang: )

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I no longer own this book, but if a masterpiece is a cover that stirs emotion, then this is the one for me. Here's what I wrote about it in the Fawcett thread:

 

Published 3 months after Pearl Harbor. The cover is extraordinary, a child hero with what can only be described as blood-lust. Having already disabled three Japanese planes, he flies at a fourth, his eyes filled with rage, his hands outstretched as claws, ready to tear apart what very well may be the same planes that destroyed our navy and killed so many of our men that Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor. It's an angry cover, filled with the emotion of a nation bent on vengeance, and rightly so. It's visceral, powerful, and all in color for a dime...

 

 

master25.jpg

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I no longer own this book, but if a masterpiece is a cover that stirs emotion, then this is the one for me. Here's what I wrote about it in the Fawcett thread:

 

Published 3 months after Pearl Harbor. The cover is extraordinary, a child hero with what can only be described as blood-lust. Having already disabled three Japanese planes, he flies at a fourth, his eyes filled with rage, his hands outstretched as claws, ready to tear apart what very well may be the same planes that destroyed our navy and killed so many of our men that Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor. It's an angry cover, filled with the emotion of a nation bent on vengeance, and rightly so. It's visceral, powerful, and all in color for a dime...

 

 

master25.jpg

That's a great cover and description. I think one of the best Raboy covers. CM Jr. seems about to reach through the pages and rip the readers face off.

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I no longer own this book, but if a masterpiece is a cover that stirs emotion, then this is the one for me. Here's what I wrote about it in the Fawcett thread:

 

Published 3 months after Pearl Harbor. The cover is extraordinary, a child hero with what can only be described as blood-lust. Having already disabled three Japanese planes, he flies at a fourth, his eyes filled with rage, his hands outstretched as claws, ready to tear apart what very well may be the same planes that destroyed our navy and killed so many of our men that Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor. It's an angry cover, filled with the emotion of a nation bent on vengeance, and rightly so. It's visceral, powerful, and all in color for a dime...

 

 

master25.jpg

 

so, so happy to have my modest little copy. thanks again, sir.

 

master25.jpg

 

 

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my fave l. b. cover is a masterpiece, i think.

 

bb105.jpg

 

 

Tell us why :baiting:

 

Ever since that last Star Trek movie every guy has a green woman fetish.

 

lol

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I view this masterwork as a collaboration between Margaret Brundage and Catherine Lucille Moore. Brundage captures the key moment of the story in a simple beautiful WEIRD composition that puts it above most others to make it my fave of her covers. The great Jirel of Joiry...the day I scored a VF+++++ of this for twentyfivecents at Cherokee in LA in early '60s was one of the happiest ever- hell the whole next week was bliss- Conan and Jirel- that got the young blood flowing! probably BZ has that copy now................

 

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The art critic John Berger once said that the trouble with art school is that it teaches students that there is no point in making a work of art unless they aim to make a masterpiece. It's a bit like saying that you cant jog unless you aim for Olympic gold. He went on to say that the problem with this notion is that by definition, a masterpiece contains and had resonances far beyond what was envisioned by the artist. Indeed, Berger argued, it is often the case that what makes a masterpiece what it is depends on historical and cultural shifts the artist could not have anticipated!

 

John Peter Berger , is obviously a well educated man with plenty of credentials. I suppose back in the olden days when he went to the Chelsea School of Art and the Central School of Art in London they did teach him those easily misunderstood (and dare I say it...incorrect) philosophies. Art Schools today, especially in Fine Art they teach fundamentally about creating for self expression, and certainly not to create a Masterpiece. Times have changed since the 1940s, and so have attitudes and realizations. Perhaps art is one of those things that continues to be defined and re-defined, with many contradictory perspectives. But I'm not here to debate Mr. Berger, nor dwell on his achievements.

 

I need to say Alanna, that yours was one of the most insightful posts I've had the pleasure of reading on these boards. Yours was the kind of post that lingered in my mind for days, as it demanded thought. I couldn't voice an opinion, without truly understanding the complexities of your notions, and putting it into proper context here, and how it applies to Comic Books.

 

On the topic of 'Masterpieces', because that is a loaded word: Perhaps some of which Berger was saying is true on one level. The public may have be in general agreement about what is a 'Masterpiece' based upon their own criteria which may include "historical and cultural shifts the artist could not have anticipated." I believe that even if that benchmark were true in Leonardo da Vinci's case, I don't think it can be applied equally to every artist.

 

So the critical patterns and formulas that are implemented to determine a 'Masterpiece' may vary from one critic to another, because the principles of educated critics are interchangeable depending upon whom is speaking. This means simply, that what constitutes a true 'Masterpiece' can be interpreted differently by Nations, Governing Institutions, Professors, Teachers, Students and most of all, by the artist himself (in his own lifetime).

 

The reason I'm explaining this is not for anyone else's benefit, this is how I go about fully understanding how this may apply to comic books and comic book artists (and BOTH comic books and fine arts interest me equally). If my words ring true for any other's that may read this, great, but it is what I often do before I can voice a conclusion to a stimulating question.

 

You picked a superb, inaugural issue, TAR #43 as an example, because you are using one set of criteria to examine and formulate conclusions upon Baker's portfolio of art which may differ from others here who may not have comprehended the abstract nuances that you had actually considered before making your determination. I wonder if that made any sense? I did not disagree with you, in truth, I agree with you. But few truly look that deeply because life is so bustling, with so many things to see in so little time (a single lifetime is not really that long). I think I've said this before, but there's so much still to discover in Golden Age art, if we can look close enough, and comprehend what we see, and are able to separate the weeds from the Roses, and everything in between.

 

Now I must give my brain a rest, and have a cigarette.

 

_________________________

Good Girl Art Forum

GGA FORUM: http://www.SpankingPanels.com/forum/

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I think I've said this before, but there's so much still to discover in Golden Age art, if we can look close enough, and comprehend what we see, and are able to separate the weeds from the Roses, and everything in between.

 

 

Thanks for such a thoughtful response. In "Ways of Seeing" Berger memorably said that while a great many people would agree that Michelangelo was the greatest artist who ever lived, very few would say that they "loved" his work.

 

Calling something - anything - a masterpiece tends to distance it from us and we from it - we can no longer see the image/form as it is because we see it being conscious of its status.

 

I was interested in Cheetah's comments about the personal nature of responses to art. Equally, the most interesting posts in this thread so far have been of books I would not have expected, or did not even know! That personal, intimate choice based on love of the object seems to me an important counter to the over-commercialisation of our hobby. There is no harm in loving the grade it is in (if it is high grade), but let us love what we love because it strikes a chord in us, regardless of prevailing trends, or grades,or rarity!

 

Help us see with fresh eyes the comics you truly love.

 

 

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This one doesn't seem to grab many people....but to me, it's one of the coolest and most profound covers ever.....not my copy unfortunately. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

STRANGEADV4.jpg

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This one doesn't seem to grab many people....but to me, it's one of the coolest and most profound covers ever.....not my copy unfortunately. GOD BLESS...

Cool cover, Jimbo! Never saw that one before. (thumbs u

 

 

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And here's my contribution... this was an impulse pickup from last night. (It's not really in my collecting focus nor was it dirt cheap, so it had damn well better be a masterpiece because that's the only rationale I've got left!)

 

106604.jpg

 

 

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This one doesn't seem to grab many people....but to me, it's one of the coolest and most profound covers ever.....not my copy unfortunately. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

STRANGEADV4.jpg

 

This one is hardly ever seen in high grade, so it can look somewhat dull. A high grade copy brings out its hidden qualities, however! Beautiful copy.

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