the books covering The Frank Collection
   The Frank Collection
   The Great Fantasy Art Themes From The Frank Collection
   Possible Futures - Science Fiction Art From The Frank Collection - Re-Reading Science Fiction Art [BELOW THE LINE]
   The Frank Collection (Heritage Illustration Art Catalog supplement (2008 Oct - # 7001-B)
   The Frank Collection (Heritage Illustration Art Catalog supplement (2010 May - # 7015-B)
   The Frank Collection (Heritage Illustration Art Catalog supplement (2013 Oct - # 5145-B)
                                             (1999 - 2013)

The Frank Collection was a significent gathering of SF & Fantasy art compiled over decades by Howard & Jane Frank. Several publications focused on it before it's owners variously distributed most of its content.

The Frank Collection (1999 - Paper Tiger) This book is laid out as a tour through the Franks's abode which was a showcase for the art they had collected. Image after image of the works themselves are presented as the text winds through them. That text is a discussion of that art and characterizes the role the paintings and their creators played in the Fantasy & S.F. genres, along with any number of anecdotes connected to them. 79 of the book's 112 pages could be said to have let the art dominate. Of those, 60 work to each feature a particular large reproduction while the rest host two or more images. Six of the images are laid across the gutter, but most still manage to remain acceptable all the same. Some space is given over to the sculptures and other dimensional art the couple had obtained. Everything is captioned with artist, title, creation year, size, medium, and first use it was put to (including an author & publisher's name, if it was meant to be an illustration), as well as usually a small bit of commentary. Everything is closed out with a two-page index to the both the artist's and the works. The artists being 'well-presented' here are: Allen Anderson*, Tom Barber, John Berkey (2), Richard Bober, Hannes Bok, Chesley Bonestell (2), Brom, Margaret Brundage*, Jim Burns (3)***, Joseph Devito, Les Edwards, Ed Emshwiller**, Frank Frazetta (2)*, Kelly Freas**, Robert Fuqua (2), Donato Giancola, James Gurney**, Stephen Hickman (2)*, Greg & Tim Hildebrandt**, Jeffrey Catherine Jones**, Tom Kidd, Paul Lehr, Don Maitz, Gabriel H. Mayorga, Harold McCauley, Chris Moore*, Dean Morrissey, Keith Parkinson*, Richard Powers (2)*, Gary Ruddell (3), Norman Saunders*, J. Allen St. John*, Lawrence Sterne Stevens, Boris Vallejo*, Walter Velez, James Warhola (3), J.R. Weguelin, Michael Whelan*, Tim White*, Paul Youll, and Stephen Youll.

* - Note that the 'well-presented' pieces here by Anderson, Hickman, White, Moore, Brundage, Frazetta, Parkinson, Powers, Saunders, St. John, Whelan, and Vallejo, can all additionally be found so in their own collections on The List.

** - Note that the 'well-presented' pieces here by Emshwiller, Freas, Gurney, Jones and the Hildebrandts, cannot additionally be found so in their own collections on The List.

*** - Note that in regards to the 'well-presented' pieces here by Burns, some, but not all, can additionally be found so in his own collections on The List.

Great Fantasy Art Themes From The Frank Collection (2003 - Paper Tiger) This volume proves to be the best art-presentation in among this grouping of books. There are almost no repeats in these images from those in the initial release, THE FRANK COLLECTION. These new images are pulled together into chapters that somewhat suggest The Great Fantasy Themes promised in the book's title. Those chapters are: Take Me To Your Leader, Onward To Glory!, Femmes And Femmes Fatale, Grand Visions-Space-Spaceships-and-Destiny, Heroes, For Mature Audiences Only, Where Evil Lurks, and Magic-And-Myth. There's also a chapter on paintings the Franks commissioned around the classic adventures written by H. Rider Haggard, as well as another 13-page one that focuses solely on the sculptures of Lisa Snellings Clark (not to mention the Introduction and Index). The captioning is the same as the first volume, but without any anecdotes or commentary attached, leaving that to be handled by the main text. The book is 128 pages with 84 of those having featured large reproductions and another 12 with multiple images. There are nine images that spread across the book's gutter, but all of them seem to continue to work even though in that format. The artists being 'well-presented' here are: Allen Anderson*, Tom Barber, Denis Beauvais, John Berkey (2), Richard Bober (2), Hannes Bok, Chesley Bonestell (2), Jim Burns (4)*, Thomas Canty, Alan M. Clark, Leo & Diane Dillon, Les Edwards (2), Bob Eggleton, Ed Emshwiller (2)***, Virgil Finlay, Kelly Freas, Donato Giancola, James Gurney*, Carol Hayer, Richard Hescox*, Stephen Hickman**, Tim Hildebrandt**, Jael, Jeffrey Catherine Jones (4)***, Tom Kidd, Roy Krenkel, Romas Kukalis, Paul Lehr, Todd Lockwood, Harold McCauley, Ian Miller (2), Leo Morey, Rowena Morrill (2), Dean Morrissey (2), Frank R. Paul, Richard Powers**, Gary Ruddell (3), J. Allen St. John (2)***, James B. Settles, Barclay Shaw, Malcolm Smith, Robert Stanley, Lawrence Sterne Stevens (2), Darrell K. Sweet**, Ed Valigursky, Boris Vallejo (4)***, James Warhola, Jim Warren**, Morgan Weistling, Michael Whelan (3)***, and Tim White (3)*.

* - Note that the 'well-presented' pieces here by Anderson, White, Burns, Gurney, and Hescox, can all additionally found so in their own collections on The List (though a couple of White's are even better here).

** - Note that the 'well-presented' pieces here by Hickman, Warren, Sweet, Powers, and Hildebrandt, cannot additionally be found so in their own collections on The List.

*** - Note that in regards to the 'well-presented' pieces here by Emshwiller, Jones, St. John, Vallejo, and Whelan, some, but not all, can additionally be found so in their own collections on The List.

Possible Futures - Science Fiction Art From The Frank Collection - Re-Reading Science Fiction Art [BELOW THE LINE] (2000 - University of Maryland Art Gallery) Howard Frank was serving as the Dean of University of Maryland's business school. Of course that University's art showplace was a natural site for his & his wife's renowned collection to begin its journey 'on the road' (the tour was making three other stops). This exhibition was actually enhanced at this inaugural display with a number of major pieces that were not traveling-on. This 96-page publication was produced as an adjunct to this exhibition, but one might gather that the actual art was not the main focus of the book, seeing how the amount of its reproductions couldn't even get it up onto our art-book List. Rather, in my view, it was an exercise in bolstering the collection's gravitas by purportedly producing a scholarly document to accompany it. The essays contained within are: A Short History Of The Collection, Possible Futures-An Historic Overview Of Science Fiction Art, Imagined Space-Traditional And Familiar Architecture In Science Fiction Art, American Images Of Space And The Future As The Final Frontier, Designed For Future Perfect-Images Of Pulp Fiction In Context, New Ways Of Seeing-Rereading Gender In Science Fiction Art, and Dreaming Beneath The Tamarind Tree-Science-Art-Society-And The Role Of Science Fiction, (there are also lists and short artist biographies). I don't mean to indicate that there's *no* art to be found here, but except for a handful of large reproductions, everything is just so much smaller than ideal, as to be incredibly disappointing (especially in light of the fact that apparently every item in the exhibition is on display somewhere in the book). So, artwise, you will find 11 pages with multiple small images gathered together and another 18 where some single piece barely meets our definition of being 'well-presented'. Well more than half of all those remaining text pages sport another small reproduction as well. I should mention that the lion's share of that text does incorporate observations & interpretations of the particular art-pieces on display and others by the same artists. Of particular note is that one of Bonestell's really-long paintings is well laid out across a portfolio-center satisfyingly and a few of the other long pieces are presented as each held to a single page (when they rarely are elsewhere). Anyway, those 'well-presented' artists are: Earle Bergey, John Berkey, Chesley Bonestell (3), Jim Burns (2)*, Bob Eggleton, Donato Giancola, H.R. Giger, James Gurney**, Tom Kidd, David Mattingly (2), Barclay Shaw, Paul Youll, and Stephen Youll.

* - Note that both 'well-presented' pieces here by Burns can additionally be found so in his own collections up on The List (but one is actually better presented here).

** - Note that Gurney's 'well-presented' piece here cannot additionally be found so in his own collection up on The List.

The Frank Collection (Heritage Illustration Art Catalog supplement (2008 Oct - # 7001-B) A special catalog, additional to and meant to accompany the main one for this period's Illustration Art auction. This seems to have been the first 'salvo' in dispensing with the collection. Certainly don't purchase it for the 'well-presented' art, as there's only six instances of that, and almost all of them appeared as well presented in the Paper Tiger books. There's then about 50 pages with two or more images on display - though smaller, it's striking how many of them hadn't made a previous appearance in the two major books. Now, the remainder, the larger portion of the book, is working to sell the huge book collection of the couple. Half of these pages sport a small reproduction or two of a book-or-pulp-cover, but it hardly seems worth it. Anyway, the few 'well-presented artists here are: Allen Anderson*, John Berkey, Chesley Bonestell, Margaret Brundage*, Norman Saunders*, and Michael Whelan*. (Note - this entry gets a separate duplicate entry on this site's Heritage Illustration Art page.)

* - Note that the 'well-presented' pieces here by Anderson, Saunders, Whelan, and Brundage, can all be found so in their own collections on The List.

The Frank Collection (Heritage Illustration Art Catalog supplement (2010 May - # 7015-B) A special catalog, additional to and meant to accompany the main one for this period's Illustration Art auction. Being able to present only the art allowed this volume to be better than the previous auction catalog. It has 64 pages with 14 of those featuring large reproductions of some single piece. There's another 37 pages that gather together two or more images together - again it is striking how many of these smaller images didn't appear at all in the two Paper Tiger published Frank Collection books. There is one double-page spread which negotiates the gutter just fine (probably because it seems to have been designed to be a wrap-around book cover). Regarding the 'well-presented' pieces, almost all were also displayed just as well in the two major books, but there are a few exceptions to that. Listing all the artists getting that great presentation here: John Berkey, Chesley Bonestell (2), Howard V. Brown, James Christensen, Virgil Finlay, Frank Frazetta*, Chris Moore, Leo Moray, Richard Powers**, and J. Allen St. John (2)*. (Note - this entry gets a separate duplicate entry on this site's Heritage Illustration Art page.)

* - Note that Frazetta's and St. John's pieces here can all be found 'well-presented' in their own collections on The List.

** - Note that the 'well-presented' piece here by Powers cannot additionally be found so in his own collections on The List.

The Frank Collection (Heritage Illustration Art Catalog supplement (2013 Oct - # 5145-B) A special catalog, additional to and meant to accompany the main one for this period's Illustration Art auction. This appears to have been the last of the well-distributed auction events. The catalog has 74 pages with 17 of those featuring large reproductions of some single piece. There's another 35 pages that gather together two or more images together - again it is striking how many of these smaller images didn't appear at all in the two Paper Tiger published Frank Collection books. There is one double-page spread which negotiates the gutter just fine (probably because it seems to have been designed to be a wrap-around book cover). Regarding the 'well-presented' pieces, I'd say roughly half of them here did not get displayed that way (if at all) in the two major books. Listing all the artists getting that great presentation here: Allen Anderson*, Virgil Finlay, H.R. Giger, Jeffrey Catherine Jones**, Frank R. Paul (3), Richard Powers, Alex Schomburg**, Ed Valigursky, Boris Vallejo*, Michael Whelan (2)*, and UNKNOWN. (Note - this entry gets a separate duplicate entry on this site's Heritage Illustration Art page.)