Saturday, January 26, 2013

Chapel of Mystic Horror

Of the early Weird Tales magazines, I feel that Hugh Rankin was the most interesting illustrator. I'd love to know more about the man.

Hugh Rankin — Weird Tales — December 1928

2 comments:

Mr. Door Tree said...

Thomas,

Not much is known about Hugh Rankin but here's what has been documented...lived 1879-1957, illustrated for the newspapers and began working for Weird Tales in 1927 when he was semi-retired...between 1927-1930 he contributed 15 covers to Weird Tales and numerous interior illos 1927-36! The interior illos were usually done in charcoal and grease pencil but there are a number done in pen & ink which are usually signed DOAK! He was living in Chicago when he began working for WT but eventually moved to the West Coast where after a few years his work for WT ended! For what it's worth I have never seen another published illustration by Rankin outside of Weird Tales...an incredibly gifted artist and the first top tier illustrator to be printed in one of the greatest magazines that has, or ever will be published!

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Thank you, Mr. Door Tree. That tends to explain why my searches for his work beyond WT were for naught. There must be SOMEthing waiting to be discovered.