Tag: Arthur J. Krusz

Beyond Fantasy Fiction – September, 1954 [Arthur J. Krusz] [Updated post…]

[This post originally appeared in June of 2017.  it’s now updated with a separate image of Arthur J. Krusz’s cover art.]

When I originally created this post, I noted that the surname of the cover artist was “Krusz”, but I was unable to find additional information about him. 

Identity now established:  He was Arthur J. Krusz. 

Born in Missouri in 1926, Krusz obtained a degree in art from the University of Saint Louis after the Second World War, and in 1951 moved to New York with his wife Dorie.  In 1962, the couple moved to Grosse Point Woods, Michigan, where he pursued a successful career as an artist, illustrator, cartoonist, and painter.  Mr. Krusz died in 2014.  

A review of the Internet Speculative Fiction Database shows only two entries for illustrations created by Krusz, both for Beyond Fantasy Fiction in 1954:  “This” September cover, and the cover of the magazine’s May issue.  Unsurprisingly, his name doesn’t appear in Wikipedia’s List of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists.

As for the actual image?  The subject is direct, straightforward, and immediately recognizable:  Pandora has just opened the proverbial “box”: of trouble … pain … grief … misfortune … sadness … misery … illness …war … death … and more (yikes, there’s more?!), the key to said box o’trouble lying on the ground before her.  (Albeit the box’s “key” is not necessarily a specific part of the legend.) 

Notice that the “box” itself is only noticeable by its golden edges, while the calamities that have escaped to befall mankind appear as intertwined anthropomorphic clouds of deep green and violet: Rather ugly clouds, at that.  The landscape is consistent with the scene: it’s a desert wasteland, the only other “inhabitants” being two trees.

Not a pleasant place to be! 

References

Arthur J. Krusz – Obituary

Arthur J. Krusz, at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

2017 06 29

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Beyond Fantasy Fiction – May, 1954 [Arthur J. Krusz]

Here’s Arthur Krusz’s “first” Beyond Fantasy Fiction cover, his second such effort having appeared for the magazine’s September ’54 issue.

Like the cover of Beyond’s September issue, the subject matter of this work – having no connection to the magazine’s content – is inspired by Greek mythology:  It represents the legend of the minotaur and his labyrinth, which structure – near the palace of Minos, in Knossos – was constructed by Daedalus. 

There, a maiden – according to legend, one of the fourteen young Athenians (seven young men and seven young women) selected by lots every seventh or ninth year as an ongoing penalty to avert a plague incurred by the killing of Androgeos (or Androgeus) – looks behind in fear at the monster’s approach.

(Hopefully, Theseus will arrive in time to kill the beast and rescue her!  Well, after two groups of sacrifices had been offered to the minotaur, he did save the third group from certain death and slew the awful beast..)

Like Krusz’s cover illustration based on the legend of Pandora, this painting is symbolic, rather than representational.  A tilted Ionic capital stands at left, while the twisting paths of the labyrinth’s corridors – in gloomy shades of gray, blue, and murky violet – are suggested by the walls at the rear and center.  The entire scene is back-lit by a cloud-obscured moon, with the minotaur – red eyes a’glowin’! – silhouetted at the labyrinth’s entrance, the threshold of which shines in an eerie green.

As for the young lady, I suppose her pink hair would have been out of place in ancient Greece.  But, it works for the painting!

Otherwise, this example of cover art, like all other illustrations that graced the cover of Beyond Fantasy Fiction, is distinctly different in format from cover art of Astounding Science Fiction, Analog, or, say, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction: In Beyond, akin to Galaxy Science Fiction, Science Fiction Adventures, Space Science Fiction, and Orbit Science Fiction, the cover art occupied or was “framed” within a specific section of the cover “landscape”, such that the publication’s name or logo, individual story titles, and author’s names didn’t actually overlap across the art.

I hope to venture slightly beyond what has been shown here, and bring you more illustrations of Beyond in the future.  

Something More…

The Minotaur, at Wikipedia

Arthur J. Krusz – Obituary

Arthur J. Krusz, at Internet Speculative Fiction Database