The Mermaid's Hero

Enoch Bolles — Film Fun — May, 1923

Losing Time

Another view of the 1915 period of the last 2 posts.

Enoch Bolles — Judge magazine — March 20, 1915

Time to Start Gazing

Apologies once again to Jack at his Enoch Bolles site, but I just have to post one more cover with a gaze that just Bolles me over. This cover has been posted elsewhere, but this is my scan from my file of favorite covers.

The Lady of 1000 Lovers

A hale and hearty hello to our cyber friend Jack over at the web log dedicated to the art of Enoch Bolles, which you can jump to by clicking here. I certainly don't mean to intrude on his territory, but he actually said I could, so I'm posting a 1920s Enoch Bolles cover that seems quite different from Bolles' usual portfolio of light and spicy pin-up covers.

What may lack in action here, to me, is made up for with the mood and atmosphere of the painting. The use of the light source's color and direction indicates that these two are in front of a fireplace, but what's going on? Is she dead, alive, swooned? And he looks worried, like things ain't goin' well. Yada yada.

I catch a hint of a J.C. Leyendecker influence, not just in their features, but also in the paint modeling. I like the darkness and warm coloration and the dame looks pretty alluring as well. Go see Jack's site for a lively romp through all things Bolles.

Foreshortening Issue

This Film Fun cover is a recent post by Jack over at http://enochbolles.blogspot.com/, "a web log dedicated to the art of Enoch Bolles". It's a terrific 'blog and I enjoy each posting. This particular post points out the lame depiction of the lady's firearm in hand. I assume the problem is a foreshortening issue. But it reminded me of a modern day illustration of the same subject matter.

Artistic draughtsman extraordinaire Jim Silke continually pays genuine homage to exotic and adventure icons of yesteryear. The work below is similar to, yet quite distinctive from, the Bolles painting. It has the same use of foreshortening the flintlock, but this one succeeds. It demonstrates what just a tiny bit of detail and positioning makes. Gosh, both these guys are so good.

Note the nod to Howard Pyle as well.