The Norman Rockwell Museum had a fantastic exhibition of fantasy art last year called Enchanted. This is the accompanying book (2021). The book is a great look at the history of this tradition and I think the show made a compelling argument that there is a universality to this stuff that gets lost sometimes. By which I mean, these folks are part of a long tradition and deploy similar techniques to similar effect, despite working decades and, in some cases, centuries apart. And this makes sense, right? Paint and ink have certain physical properties (that their digital equivalents imitate) that don’t change with the passage of time. Just like light always behaves according to the same rules, so the same is true for capturing it on canvas or paper. You can see a daisy chain of skill running through all the paintings I’ve posted, but look particularly at N.C. Wyeth’s knights on the beach and compare to Gary Gianni’s Conan fighting off the swarming army, a painting from a century later. See how similar they are despite the massive differences?

I’m not sure I am properly conveying the idea in my head, but the bottom line is that it was wild to see all this stuff on the wall of museum together. It had a weight, a kind of totality, that was eye-opening. Illustrative art is often looked down on, but that’s baloney (and maybe jealousy) because this stuff is just as breathtaking and moving as “real art,” if not more so.

The book is well worth snagging as well, if you can!