Sell or Auction Your Virgil Finlay SciFi Book Cover Acrylic on Board Painting Art for up to About $40,000 or More at Nate D. Sanders Auctions
FREE ESTIMATE. To buy, auction, sell or consign your Virgil Finlay SciFi book cover acrylic on board painting art that is for sale, please email your description and photos to [email protected] of Nate D. Sanders Auctions (http://www.NateDSanders.com).
Sell Your Virgil Finlay SciFi Book Cover Acrylic on Board Painting Art
Virgil Finlay (July 23, 1914 – January 18, 1971) was an American pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror illustrator. He has been called “part of the pulp magazine history … one of the foremost contributors of original and imaginative art work for the most memorable science fiction and fantasy publications of our time.” While he worked in a range of media, from gouache to oils, Finlay specialized in, and became famous for, detailed pen-and-ink drawings accomplished with abundant stippling, cross-hatching, and scratchboard techniques. Despite the very labor-intensive and time-consuming nature of his specialty, Finlay created more than 2600 works of graphic art in his 35-year career.
Below is a recent realized price for Virgil Finlay SciFi book cover acrylic on board painting art. We at Nate D. Sanders Auctions can obtain up to this amount or more for you:
Virgil Finlay SciFi Book Cover Acrylic on Board Painting Art. Sold for About $40,000.
Nate D. Sanders Auctions has sold the following items:
Artist Dean Ellis original ”Red Illustrated Man” painting commissioned for the cover art of Ray Bradbury’s ”The Illustrated Man”. Ellis’ depiction was used for the cover of the Bantam Books 1969 paperback edition of ”The Illustrated Man”. Composed in casein on illustration board. Painting measures 17” x 26.5” and is framed to an overall size of 26” x 35”. Near fine condition. With a COA from the Ray Bradbury estate. Sold for $45,894.
Scarce model from the 1979 film ”Alien” of the famed ”Space Jockey” character aboard the ”Derelict Spaceship”, designed and hand-painted by H.R. Giger. One of the most recognizable scenes in sci-fi cinema, the haunting Space Jockey aka The Pilot, found dead aboard the alien spaceship, was conceived and designed by famed Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor and visual effects artist H.R. Giger, whose work on ”Alien” won an Academy Award in 1980.
The enormous Space Jockey and cavernous spaceship are quintessential Giger, renowned for human-machine melded beings called biomechanoids; the walls of the spaceship appear to be either vertebrae from a once living creature, or cogs in a vast industrial machine system, or perhaps both. Space Jockey is fused into his command station and wears either a mask, or has a elephantine trunk extending from his face. In the ”Alien” set — which was built based on this model — Space Jockey sits 26 feet tall, dwarfing the characters of Kane, Dallas and Lambert who find him dead, his rib cage blasted open, serving as foreshadowing to what awaits the crew later in the film.
So pivotal was the scene — establishing the world of the Alien creature and serving as ground zero for the film’s mythology — that Ridley Scott insisted upon its construction, despite the enormous cost of building the life-size (or larger than life) set. Space Jockey so enthralled the audience of ”Alien”, that the character would even go on to serve as a critical and central story point in Scott’s ”Promethus”, the ”Alien” origin story released in 2012.
The model is reportedly one of only three or four known to exist and comes from the collection of Peter Beale, former 20th Century Fox executive who was given the model by Giger and whose LOA accompanies the piece. The original mold was intentionally cut into smaller parts to be used by the technicians who constructed the set, so the remaining models are the only extant original sculptures of the scene. This model measures 43” wide x 36” long x 16.25” high, hand painted in tones of grey, brown and black by Giger. Space Jockey is fused into his pilot seat, which swivels around on a circular platform. The swiveling piece can be removed and measures 13.5” long x 10.25” high x 4.5” wide. Entire model weighs over 47 lbs., glued to a painted sheet of plywood. A few chips to the resin, otherwise in near fine condition. One of the finest ”Alien” props ever to be sold at auction. Sold for $31,250.
Consign your Virgil Finlay SciFi book cover acrylic on board painting art at Nate D. Sanders Auctions. Send a description and images of your Virgil Finlay SciFi book cover acrylic on board painting art to us at [email protected].
”Addams Family” cartoonist and creator Charles Addams original 1946 painting personally owned by Ray Bradbury. True to Addams’ whimsical and macabre tone, painting depicts a landscape scene at twilight with a Gothic mansion overlooking a shore, and with ghoulish creatures and spirits ascending towards the house. Signed, ”Chas Adams” at upper right. Mixed media on illustration board was selected to be the cover image for Bradbury’s book, ”From the Dust Returned”, which was released in 2001. Painting measures 17” x 12” and is matted and framed to an overall size of 24” x 19”. Chip to frame, otherwise near fine. With a COA from the Ray Bradbury estate. Sold for $25,000.
Art by Joseph Mugnaini from the personal collection of Ray Bradbury, and indeed the painting which began the collaboration between the two creative men. Painting known as both ”Carnival” and “Caravan” is a nighttime scene depicting a train perched precariously high, filled with faceless figures, their arms raised in apparent cheering, waving pennant-style flags. The carnival theme is inextricable from Bradbury’s work, serving not only as the setting of his famous novel, ”Something Wicked This Way Comes”, but also as his inspiration to become a writer; Bradbury credits his interaction as a child with a carnival magician named ”Mr. Electrico”, who told him to ”Live Forever!”, as the impetus for his writing career. Painting, composed in oil on board, is circa 1952. Measures approximately 31” x 25”, matted and framed to an overall size of 36” x 30”. Frame shows wear but art appears near fine. With a COA from the Ray Bradbury estate. Sold for $23,153.
Robert Watson painting entitled ”The Martian Chronicles”, as the artist provided this cover art for the book’s second edition, printed in 1953. Signed ”R. Watson” in paint at lower left, oil on canvas painting depicts a solitary human being, surrounded by decaying structural columns on a desolate landscape; this piece exactly matches the cover of the 1953 edition, with the exception that the book has a red background. With the artist’s name, painting title and ”Collection of Ray Bradbury” handwritten to verso. Painting measures 14” x 18”. Minor scratch to front, else near fine. With a COA from the estate of Ray Bradbury. Sold for $22,986.
Original Hal Foster ”Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur” seven-panel strip, twice-signed and inscribed to famed novelist Ray Bradbury. Dated 5 January 1947, strip features Prince Valiant, his wife, Aleta, Queen of the Misty Isles, and Earl Jon amid a classic Arthurian feast. True to Foster’s iconic form, strip is intricately detailed and does not employ word balloons, instead narrated in captions positioned at the bottom of panels. Second frame is signed and inscribed, ”To Ray Bradbury / With My Best Wishes / Hal Foster” and last frame is signed ”Hal Foster”. With a King Features Syndicate copyright to lower edge. Strip measures 27.5” x 34.5”, stapled to a backboard measuring 28” x 44”. Wear mostly confined to margins, including tape residue and toning. With a COA from the Ray Bradbury estate. Sold for $21,175.
FREE APPRAISAL. To auction, buy, consign or sell your Virgil Finlay SciFi book cover acrylic on board painting art, please email your description and photos to [email protected] of Nate D. Sanders Auctions (http://www.NateDSanders.com).
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