Charles Livingston Bull and other Artists I like

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mood: Contemplative and Inspired

This entry is an edited response to an inquiry by a friend of mine who is a fellow collector of Charles Livingston Bull magazine covers. I thought I’d share it:

In addition to being an artist, I collect art and have a pretty extensive art book collection. Its broad focus (and I often venture outside that focus) is on late nineteenth century art and late 19th and early 20th century illustration (primarily children's book illustration; lots of Rackham and Dulac). I also collect books and catalogue clippings of whom I consider to be the best wildlife artists (i.e., Bob Kuhn, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Stanley Meltzoff, Bruno Liljefors, Paul Jouve, Henri Deluermoz, Carl Rungius, Robert Bateman, Charles Livingston Bull, Antoine Louis Barye, Paul Bransom, Charles R. Knight, etc.). I took a wildlife painting workshop with Bob Kuhn and we've been friends ever since. What a great guy!

There are a few artists about whose work I am pretty obsessive: Joseph Clement Coll (I am about ten magazines away from owning every known publication of Coll's, hence, I have a large collection of Sunday Magazine issues. While I carefully researched all of the Sunday Magazines --- looking for Coll --- I also made a near complete cover artist list for Walt & Roger Reed at Illustration House; I wrote a Bud Plant bestselling book on Coll a few years ago as well), Harry Rountree (I am working on a Rountree book), Gustav Tenggren, Charles Knight (I've compiled three books of his work), Jose Segrelles, Frank Frazetta (I've written several articles on Frank's work as well as chapters for some of his retrospective books), the Detmold brothers, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Thomas Moran, Paul Jouve, Henri Deluermoz, J. C. Leyendecker (I contributed to the JCL show at the Norman Rockwell Museum a few years ago and am currently writing the chapter on J. C.'s early years for a new comprehensive book on Leyendecker), Howard Pyle, John William Waterhouse and Edwin Austin Abbey. I have tried (and am trying) to obtain at least one copy of every book and every single image these fine gentlemen have produced. I know: Insane!

I think if I were to become as obsessed with Charles Livingston Bull it could be dangerously endless and all-consuming --- as you know, Bull was nothing if not outrageously prolific! His books and cover work will do just fine...and the occasional poster. I bought one Bull (and a small Bransom) original several months ago on Ebay; it's with my framer as I type. I sadly lost out on the Bull big cats that were on Ebay recently. They were pretty amazing --- but there is a limit to my bank account!

As far as other original art goes, I have a small eclectic collection of many representative examples of most of the above listed artists' work, plus many comic book artists as well (like Robert Crumb, Jack Kirby, Russ Manning, Bernie Wrightson, Moebius, Mike Mignola, Mark Schultz, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Angelo Torres, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Will Elder to name a few). I have lots of Charles R. Knight originals (I never got to meet Knight, but I have been a close friend of his daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter now for almost thirty years). including a couple of oil paintings and a bronze Tyrannosaurus rex. I currently have six works of my own in a show on Charles R. Knight at the George C. Page Museum (the La Brea Tar Pits Museum) here in Los Angeles. I'm in the show representing contemporary artists who have been influenced by Knight (which I certainly am).

I was first attracted to Charles Livingston Bull's work through mistaken identity. I thought I could tell that Bull was a major influence on Frank Frazetta and the way Frank drew the big cats. It actually turned out (after getting to know Frank) that it was Charles Knight, Antoine Louis Barye, Bob Kuhn and Paul Bransom who were his big animal art influences (it was Knight who was Frank's biggest big cat influence). It was Frank who (in 1972) turned me on to Bob's work, as well as the work of Barye and Bransom --- and I've been grateful ever since! I couldn't have been drawing dinosaurs and not already have been aware of Charles Knight's work.

I could tell right away that, like several of my favorite turn of the century artists, Bull was influenced by Japanese prints (I was first exposed to Japanese prints by Russ Manning when I was assisting him on the "Tarzan of the Apes" Sunday and daily newspaper strips). The combination of good design, strong values, a sense of drama and his thoroughly encyclopedic knowledge of his animal subject matter are what makes Bull's work really appeal to me. And man --- can he draw eagles and big cats!

Well, Friends & Fans, that was pretty much the letter I sent. I hope it turns some of you on to some as-yet-unfamiliar artists, including Charles Livingston Bull. But please don’t bid against me on Ebay!

Bill on 04/22/05 @ 10:53 AM PST
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