Legendary artist Mort Künstler passed away earlier this year at the age of 93. While he's won much acclaim in recent years for his Civil War portrayals, he got his start in the 1950's with illustrations for the sweat mags:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/d9ed7b24-6996-471c-9723-ebdcc0ecd75e.webp)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/2c741643-2393-4f21-8f31-65795d23e43e.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/81459193-b02c-4246-b2b1-9b6af6af3a73.jpg)
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By the late 1950's he was illustrating many and varied Aurora box covers:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/1649348c-4f52-4377-91a4-a4cd81e1f8dc.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/a0e08ad0-92e4-448d-8ee8-17c15a96851b.webp)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/64a3a9e0-36e7-4ef7-84f3-f97fb6f599e6.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/38dbc93b-df86-4821-a07a-008473a52157.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/dd694c9a-4870-47d8-97d3-3f4afb9ab169.jpg) (https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/970fa232-5414-49d9-b524-7087cb4af2bc.png)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/87be94a8-f3fa-43ea-b304-6c61aa72dc15.jpg)
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/aurora-figure-kit-forgotten-prisoner1.jpg) (https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/Lost_in_Space.jpg)
Here are a couple of shots of a shelf from my model kit cabinet in which many of these kits can be seen:
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(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/2ec30fc4-2ba6-4124-9932-17f5b52bad66.jpg)
Moreover Künstler rendered the box art for my favourite toy of all time, the Mad Mad Mad Scientist Laboratory:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/b35f6ae8-e0db-453d-af9c-c2c19c3aead5.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/962bfbbc-e576-42b6-8014-808c30787d6c.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/e7f578c3-1d90-4737-9288-b2324960d74b.jpg)
Rumour has it that Künstler's son was the model for the boy!
I contacted his staff some 10-12 years ago with a view to getting a giclée of his Mad Mad Mad Scientist Labratory box art but sadly Künstler did not have the source material he needed for my commission. But somehow it didn't occur to me to ask him whether he could redraw/recreate the box art for the Mad Mad Mad Scientist Laboratory nor did I think of asking whether he could do giclées of any of the box art he did for Aurora, e.g. Forgotten Prisoner of Castel-Maré....
Here are a couple of his Civil War pieces for which he's earned great plaudits in recent years:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/cf0943b8-cfd0-4385-8f39-8d1715e11dd1.webp)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/d6604123-7e6d-4b6e-aaa4-9d07a5c5009a.jpg)
And here's a book on Mort Künstler's artwork that I can highly recommend:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/85c51e3d-3d26-43cb-b0e1-701c992d60b1/267022f8-e46a-435d-9f4a-05f982072b3c.jpg)
8)
Really great stuff!