April 18, 2010

The Art of Frankenstein : Basil Gogos



The Bride turns 75 this week! Maybe that explains the startled look on her face, as painted by the master, Basil Gogos.

The illustration at top is my reconstruction, from two different sources, of the original art used on the cover of Famous Monsters of Filmland number 17 (May 1962). Note how the illustration was cropped and flipped left to right for design purposes.

Below, a closeup detail of the original art taken from Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos by Kerry Gammil and J. David Spurlock — an absolute, gorgeous, must-have book if there ever was one. Gogos’ intense, luminous color and jazzy brushwork is always a joy to behold.

Here, on close inspection, the orange and yellow strokes at the temple and along the cheekbone are pure abstraction. Gogos’ monster portraits were always sizzling with color and popping with life.

I’ll be celebrating The Bride of Frankenstein’s diamond anniversary all week here on Frankensteinia. Lots more to show you, and a new banner every day. Tomorrow, we’ll look at all the actresses considered for the part of The Bride.

It’s The Bride’s Birthday Bash here, this week, on Frankensteinia. Join me for the party, won't you?


7 comments:

Caftan Woman said...

Any excuse for cake!

Martin Powell said...

Looking forward to the Bride's Birthday Bash!

This is not only my favorite Frankenstein film (and the first one I ever saw, at about the age of five or six), it's on my short list of favorite movies of all time.

Let's celebrate!

Anonymous said...

She's so pretty. I'm always glad to see art or pictures of the Bride. The bandaged mummy-style picture in your header is pretty nifty in a different way.

Teeny

Pierre Fournier said...

Note, teeny, that I am running a new banner every day this week. It's all-Bride, all the time!

thiswomanswork said...

I look forward to the celebrations of this wonderful film each and every day this week! Hooray!

Wobble The Witch Cat said...

The Bride of Frankenstein can be appreciated on many levels a great score by Franz Waxman ,superb Art Direction great performances by Karloff , Lanchester , Clive Thesiger and Frye.

I really thnk that it's high time Universal Monster Movies entered the Blu Ray ring and what better hook upon which to hang a Blu ray release upon than the Seventy Fifth Anniversary a major milestone by anyone's standards?

This marvellous genre transcending movie should be given a Blu Ray edition to rival the 70th Anniversary Wizard of Oz box set Blu Ray!

Wobble The Witch Cat said...

The Bride of Frankenstein can be appreciated on many levels a great score by Franz Waxman ,superb Art Direction great performances by Karloff , Lanchester , Clive Thesiger and Frye.

I really thnk that it's high time Universal Monster Movies entered the Blu Ray ring and what better hook upon which to hang a Blu ray release upon than the Seventy Fifth Anniversary a major milestone by anyone's standards?

This marvellous genre transcending movie should be given a Blu Ray edition to rival the 70th Anniversary Wizard of Oz box set Blu Ray