I thought the body of the female looked familiar, and it is. The exact same figure is featured on the cover of "Buried For Pleasure" by Edmund Crispin on Pyramid from December 1968.
The bold Pfeiffer signature is on the right side of her dress.
I had a book in my old collection with this illustration on it, and even though I couldn't recall the title of the work that it was associated with, I remembered these two figures as ones I once studied when trying to learn Fred's technique for painting folds in fabric. I could never master it like Fred had, which is probably why I ultimately gave up, but this is an excellent picture for budding artists to study if they're seeking to learn a quick technique for rendering such folds.
This is a beautifully designed piece of illustration art. It's a perfectly balanced composition with an ideal color scheme, and I would almost wager that Fred himself was exceptionally pleased with this work of art, simply because of the boldness with which he attached his signature to the piece...the reverse side of my theory being of course that the "less" noticeable the signature, the less pleased he must've been with the final product of his efforts. But, there would certainly have been no reason to be displeased with this picture.
It suffices to say that I believe this piece of art would be deserving of reproduction on one full page in any book about the illustration art of Fred Pfeiffer.
I like your theory on the signature. However, I think that the way that the painting is transferred or where the signature occurs on the piece (lots of times it is truncated on the reproduction) plays a big factor.
I love nothing better than to find Fred's signature on the painting. Secondly, I almost love nothing better than to find a signature on any cover, for then I know for sure it is not a Pfeiffer! It is really staggering to find how many covers are not signed, or at least is not showing on the cover.
Some books list the artist on the back or on the titles page. This is my favorite thing to find in my book cover search.
3 comments:
I thought the body of the female looked familiar, and it is. The exact same figure is featured on the cover of "Buried For Pleasure" by Edmund Crispin on Pyramid from December 1968.
The bold Pfeiffer signature is on the right side of her dress.
I had a book in my old collection with this illustration on it, and even though I couldn't recall the title of the work that it was associated with, I remembered these two figures as ones I once studied when trying to learn Fred's technique for painting folds in fabric. I could never master it like Fred had, which is probably why I ultimately gave up, but this is an excellent picture for budding artists to study if they're seeking to learn a quick technique for rendering such folds.
This is a beautifully designed piece of illustration art. It's a perfectly balanced composition with an ideal color scheme, and I would almost wager that Fred himself was exceptionally pleased with this work of art, simply because of the boldness with which he attached his signature to the piece...the reverse side of my theory being of course that the "less" noticeable the signature, the less pleased he must've been with the final product of his efforts. But, there would certainly have been no reason to be displeased with this picture.
It suffices to say that I believe this piece of art would be deserving of reproduction on one full page in any book about the illustration art of Fred Pfeiffer.
Rob-
I like your theory on the signature. However, I think that the way that the painting is transferred or where the signature occurs on the piece (lots of times it is truncated on the reproduction) plays a big factor.
I love nothing better than to find Fred's signature on the painting. Secondly, I almost love nothing better than to find a signature on any cover, for then I know for sure it is not a Pfeiffer! It is really staggering to find how many covers are not signed, or at least is not showing on the cover.
Some books list the artist on the back or on the titles page. This is my favorite thing to find in my book cover search.
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