Wednesday, March 20, 2013

A Few More from Robert Shore


Here is the earliest piece I've found by Robert Shore, from 1953.

Shore33

And this one, below, which was apparently a plate in a 1950s edition of Edgar Allen Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher."

Shore34

Included in the 1960 American Artist magazine article on Shore was a sketch for an illustration that appeared in an Abbot Laboratories promotional magazine called "What's New."

Shore05

The sketch resulted from Shore first researching a variety of photographs of actual train wrecks. Shore's composite drawing includes elements culled from the artist's imagination as well as elements of the research photos. The finished illustration, below, was painted in casein on gessoed masonite.

Shore04

Casein seems to have been Robert Shore's preferred medium at the time of the 1960 article, so it's very likely he employed it for this double page spread in Parents magazine just a year later.

Shore23

Shore describes working in heavy casein impasto, blocking in major forms...

Shore23.detail01

... then moving on to thin casein glazes mixed with damar emulsion.

Shore23.detail02

"I prefer casein to oil because it suits my temperament," said Shore. "I need to be able to make immediate, intuitive changes. The drying time of oil is too slow for me; I cannot wait to cover a bad area."

Shore27

Above, a plate from Herman Melville's Billy Budd, which Shore illustrated in 1965 and below, a spread from Boys' Life magazine, 1966.

Shore26

At a point in the early 60s (and I was unable to determine an exact date) Robert Shore was invited to participate in an unprecedented artistic endeavor.

"In March 1962, James Webb, Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, suggested that artists be enlisted to document the historic effort to send the first human beings to the moon."

Shore31

"John Walker, director of the National Gallery of Art, was among those who applauded the idea, urging that artists be encouraged "…not only to record the physical appearance of the strange new world which space technology is creating, but to edit, select and probe for the inner meaning and emotional impact of events which may change the destiny of our race."

Shore30

"Working together, James Dean, a young artist employed by the NASA Public Affairs office, and Dr. H. Lester Cooke, curator of paintings at the National Gallery of Art, created a program that dispatched artists to NASA facilities with an invitation to paint whatever interested them."

Shore32

"The result was an extraordinary collection of works of art proving, as one observer noted, "that America produced not only scientists and engineers capable of shaping the destiny of our age, but also artists worthy to keep them company." ~ quote and images from The Smithsonian National Air and Space museum website

Shore29


Below, (by coincidence?) Robert Shore was commissioned to paint this very space-like image for Boys' Life, October 1965

Shore28

Another Boy's Life spread and small spot, this time from 1969, that suggest Shore's style was shifting in new directions.

Shore25

Shore24

The final piece I have by Robert Shore (from 1973) shows a surprising degree of realism. And for me, a startling realization that, as a child, I had an intimate familiarity with at least one illustration by the artist. I owned a copy of this book when I was nine...

Shore22

... and that cover scared the bujeezuz out of me!

5 comments:

  1. The Billy Budd is fantastically bold!

    Great stuff.

    Wes

    ReplyDelete
  2. live net tv website
    Live NetTV APK for android will help you stream over 700 TV channels! Watch free TV online using Live TV App. Live Net TV application is ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. get free robux
    Roblox hack-how to get free robux is a progressed, simple to-utilize instrument that makes it simple for Robux players to gain free robux and passes to ace the game.With this uncommonly structured hack, each player can get normal access to the entirety of the Robux and passes to the Roblox game as frequently as wanted.

    ReplyDelete