Fantastic art is a broad and loosely defined
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
.
It is not restricted to a specific school of artists, geographical location or historical period. It can be characterised by subject matter – which portrays non-realistic, mystical,
mythical
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
or
folkloric
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...
subjects or events – and style, which is representational and naturalistic, rather than abstract – or in the case of magazine illustrations and similar, in the style of
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
art such as
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
.
Fantasy has been an integral part of art since its beginnings,
but has been particularly important in
mannerism
Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, ...
,
magic realist painting,
romantic art
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
,
symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
Arts
* Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism
** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
** Russian sy ...
,
surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
and
lowbrow. In French, the genre is called le
fantastique
''Fantastique'' is a French term for a literary and cinematic genre that overlaps with science fiction, horror, and fantasy.
The ''fantastique'' is a substantial genre within French literature. Arguably dating back further than English lan ...
, in English it is sometimes referred to as ''visionary art'', ''grotesque art'' or
mannerist art. It has had a deep and circular interaction with
fantasy literature
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fan ...
.
The subject matter of fantastic art may resemble the product of hallucinations, and Fantastic artist
Richard Dadd
Richard Dadd (1 August 1817 – 7 January 1886) was an English painter of the Victorian era, noted for his depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects, Orientalism, Orientalist scenes, and enigmatic genre works, genre scenes, rendered w ...
spent much of his life in mental institutions.
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
famously said: "the only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad". Some recent fantastic art draws on the artist's experience, or purported experience, of
hallucinogenic drugs
Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorize ...
.
The term fantasy art is closely related, and is applied primarily to recent art (typically 20th century on wards) inspired by, or illustrating fantasy literature.
Fantastic art has traditionally been largely confined to painting and illustration, but since the 1970s has increasingly been found also in photography. Fantastic art explores fantasy, imagination, the dream state, the
grotesque
Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...
, visions and the uncanny,
[Schurian, Walter (2005) Beyond Mere Understanding. In: ''Fantastic Art'', Schurian, W. & Grosenick, U. (Ed.), ]Taschen
Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen.
History
The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...
, p.6-25. (English edition) as well as so-called "
Goth
A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were:
*Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history
*Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history
Goth or Goths may also refer to:
* Goth (surname) ...
" and "Dark" art.
Related genres
Genres which may also be considered as fantastic art include the
Symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
Arts
* Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism
** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
** Russian sy ...
of the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
,
Pre-Raphaelites, the
Golden Age of Illustration
An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...
, and
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
. Works based on classical mythology, which have been a staple of European art from the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
period, also arguably meet the definition of fantastic art, as art based on modern mythology such as
J.R.R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
's
Middle Earth
Middle or The Middle may refer to:
* Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits.
Places
* Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man
* Middle Bay (disambiguation)
* Middle Brook (disambiguation)
* Middle Creek ...
mythos unquestionably does.
Religious art
Religious art is artistic imagery using religious inspiration and motifs and is often intended to uplift the mind to the spiritual. Sacred art involves the ritual and cultic practices and practical and operative aspects of the path of the spiritu ...
also depicts supernatural or miraculous subjects in a naturalistic way, but is not generally regarded as fantastic art.
Historic artists and fine artists
Many artists have produced works which fit the definition of fantastic art. Some, such as
Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich (; October 9, 1874 – December 13, 1947), also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (russian: link=no, Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих), was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophi ...
, worked almost exclusively in the genre, others such as
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
, who has been described as the first "fantastic" artist in the Western tradition,
produced works both with and without fantastic elements, and for artists such as
Francisco de Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...
, fantastic works were only a small part of their output. Others again such as
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...
are usually classed as Surrealists but use fantastic elements in their work. It is therefore impossible to give an exhaustive list of fantastic artists, but a selection of major and influential figures is listed below.
16–18th centuries
*
Giuseppe Arcimboldo
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (; also spelled ''Arcimboldi'') (1526 or 1527 – 11 July 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books.
These w ...
*
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
*
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
*
Brueghel
*
Monsù Desiderio
Monsù Desiderio is the name formerly given to an artist believed to have painted architectural scenes in a distinctive style in Naples in the early seventeenth century. The term ''monsù'', a corruption of the French ''monsieur'', was often use ...
*
Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli ( ; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his works, such as ''The Nightmare'', deal with supernatura ...
*
Hans Baldung Grien
Hans Baldung (1484 or 1485 – September 1545), called Hans Baldung Grien, (being an early nickname, because of his predilection for the colour green), was a painter, printer, engraver, draftsman, and stained glass artist, who was considered t ...
*
Matthias Grünewald
Matthias Grünewald ( – 31 August 1528) was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century. His first name is also given ...
*
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric ...
19th century
20th century
Twentieth century
The rise of
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
and
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
"pulp" magazines demanded artwork to illustrate stories and (via cover art) to promote sales. This led to a movement of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
artists prior to and during the Great Depression, as anthologised by
Vincent Di Fate
Vincent Di Fate (born November 21, 1945) is an American artist specializing in science fiction, fantasy and realistic space art (hardware art) illustration. He was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on June 25, 2011.
Di Fate was bor ...
, himself a prolific SF and
space
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
artist.
In the United States in the 1930s, a group of Wisconsin artists inspired by the Surrealist movement of Europe created their own brand of fantastic art. They included
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
-based artists Marshall Glasier, Dudley Huppler and
John Wilde
John Wilde (December 12, 1919 – March 9, 2006, pronounced "WILL-dee") was a painter, draughtsman and printmaker of fantastic imagery. Born near Milwaukee, Wilde lived most of his life in Wisconsin, save for service in the U.S. Army during Wor ...
; Karl Priebe of
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
and
Gertrude Abercrombie
Gertrude Abercrombie (February 17, 1909 – July 3, 1977) was an American painter based in Chicago. Called "the queen of the bohemian artists", Abercrombie was involved in the Chicago jazz scene and was friends with musicians such as Dizzy Gille ...
of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. Their art combined macabre humor, mystery and irony which was in direct and pointed contradiction to the
American Regionalism then in vogue.
In postwar
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, the art movement
Chicago Imagism produced many fantastic and grotesque paintings, which were little noted because they did not conform to New York
abstract art
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...
fashions of the time. Major imagists include
Roger Brown,
Gladys Nilsson
Gladys M. Nilsson (born May 6, 1940) is an American artist, and one of the original Hairy Who Chicago Imagists, a group of representational artists active during the 1960s and 1970s. She is married to fellow-artist and Hairy Who member Jim N ...
,
Jim Nutt,
Ed Paschke
Edward Francis Paschke (June 22, 1939 – November 25, 2004) was an American painter of Polish descent. His childhood interest in animation and cartoons, as well as his father's creativity in wood carving and construction, led him toward a caree ...
, and
Karl Wirsum
Karl Wirsum (1939May 6, 2021) was an American artist. He was a member of the Chicago artistic group The Hairy Who, and helped set the foundation for Chicago's art scene in the 1970s. Although he was primarily a painter, he also worked with prin ...
.
[Richard Vine, "Where the Wild Things Were", '']Art in America
''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It i ...
'', May 1997, pp. 98–111.
After 1970, modern western fantasy is influenced by illustrations from ''
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...
'' and ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
'',
as well as popular works of SF and fantasy like the
role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
''
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Several different editions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ga ...
'' or the French
''Heavy Metal'' magazine.
Contemporary and mid-century artists
*
Chris Van Allsburg
Chris Van Allsburg (born June 18, 1949) is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He has won two Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, for ''Jumanji'' (1981) and ''The Polar Express'' (1985), both of which he a ...
*
Yoshitaka Amano
is a Japanese visual artist, character designer, illustrator, a scenic designer for theatre and film, and a costume designer. He first came into prominence in the late 1960s working on the anime adaptation of ''Speed Racer''. Amano later became ...
*
Wayne Barlowe
Wayne Douglas Barlowe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, painter, and concept artist. Barlowe's work focuses on esoteric landscapes and creatures such as citizens of hell and alien worlds. He has painted over 300 book and magazi ...
*
Carlo Bocchio
Carlo Bocchio, also known as JackOilRain (born March 25, 1974), is an Italian illustrator and comic book artist ( Heavy Metal).
His style was strongly influenced by Simon Bisley, Justin Sweet, and by costume designer Bob Ringwood.
His paintings ha ...
*
Arik Brauer
*
Gerald Brom
Gerald Brom (born March 9, 1965), known professionally as Brom, is an American gothic fantasy artist and illustrator, known for his work in role-playing games, novels, and comics.
Early life
Brom was born March 9, 1965, in Albany, Georgia. As t ...
*
Margaret Brundage
Margaret Brundage, born Margaret Hedda Johnson (December 9, 1900April 9, 1976), was an American illustrator and painter who is remembered chiefly for having illustrated the pulp magazine ''Weird Tales''. Working in pastels on illustration bo ...
*
Clyde Caldwell
Clyde Caldwell (born February 20, 1948) is an American artist. Self-described as a fantasy illustrator, he is best known for his portrayals of strong, sexy female characters.
With his work at TSR in the 1980s, he is considered one of the arti ...
*
James C. Christensen
James C. Christensen (September 26, 1942 – January 8, 2017) was an American illustrator and painter of religious and fantasy art.
Christensen was born and raised in Culver City, California.Taylor, Scott and Walch, Tad"Of fantasy and faith: L ...
*
Roger Dean
*
Vincent Di Fate
Vincent Di Fate (born November 21, 1945) is an American artist specializing in science fiction, fantasy and realistic space art (hardware art) illustration. He was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on June 25, 2011.
Di Fate was bor ...
*
Philippe Druillet
Philippe Druillet (; born 28 June 1944) is a French comics artist and creator, and an innovator in visual design.
Biography
Philippe Druillet was born in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, France, but spent his youth in Spain, returning to France in 1952 ...
*
Bob Eggleton
Bob Eggleton (born September 13, 1960) is an American science fiction, fantasy and horror artist. Eggleton is a nine-time Hugo Award–winner for Best Pro Artist in science fiction and fantasy, first winning in 1994. He won the Hugo Award for ...
*
Larry Elmore
Larry Elmore (born August 5, 1948) is an American fantasy artist whose work includes creating illustrations for video games, comics, magazines, and fantasy books. His list of work includes illustrations for ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Dragonlance'', ...
*
Ed Emshwiller
Edmund Alexander Emshwiller (February 16, 1925 – July 27, 1990) was an American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed his illustrations as Emsh but sometimes used E ...
*
Virgil Finlay
Virgil Finlay (July 23, 1914 – January 18, 1971) was an American pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror illustrator. He has been called "part of the pulp magazine history ... one of the foremost contributors of original and imagi ...
*
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is ...
*
Brian Froud
Brian Froud (born 1947) is an English fantasy illustrator and conceptual designer. He is most widely known for his 1978 book ''Faeries (book), Faeries'' with Alan Lee (illustrator), Alan Lee, and as the conceptual designer of the Jim Henson fil ...
*
Wendy Froud
Wendy Froud (''née'' Midener; born 1954) is an American doll-artist, sculptor, puppet-maker, and writer. She is best known for her work fabricating Yoda for the 1980 film '' Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back'', for which she has been called "th ...
*
Ernst Fuchs
*
Donato Giancola
Donato Giancola is an American artist specializing in narrative realism with science fiction and fantasy content.
Biography
Donato Giancola was born and raised in Colchester, near Burlington, in the state of Vermont. He currently resides in Bro ...
*
H. R. Giger
Hans Ruedi Giger ( ; ; 5 February 1940 – 12 May 2014) was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as " biomechanical". Giger later abandoned airbrush for pastels, mark ...
*
Juan Giménez
Juan Antonio Giménez López (; 26 November 1943 – 2 April 2020) was an Argentine comic book artist and writer, most recognized for his detailed machine-like imagery. Among his noted works include stories for the French '' Métal Hurlant'' a ...
*
Jean Giraud
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (; 8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012) was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer who worked in the Bandes dessinées, Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'' (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim under the pseu ...
*
Peter Gric
*
Rebecca Guay
Rebecca Guay is an artist known early in her career as an illustrator, commissioned for work on role-playing games, collectible card games, comic books, as well as work on children's literature. Guay subsequently turned primarily toward gal ...
*
James Gurney
James Gurney (born June 14, 1958) is an American artist and author known for his illustrated book series ''Dinotopia'', which is presented in the form of a 19th-century explorer's
journal from an island utopia cohabited by humans and dinosaurs. ...
*
John Howe
*
Judson Huss
*
Peter Andrew Jones
Peter Andrew Jones (born 14 December 1951) is a British artist and illustrator who has produced a large number of fantasy and science fiction genre illustrations. During a professional career of over 43 years he has worked on book jacket covers, ...
*
Oleg A. Korolev
Oleg A. Korolev (born March 2, 1968) is Russian artist whose paintings have been
exhibited and represented in the private and corporate art collections of Russia, Europe, North America, and Australia.
Education
Since 1979 studied in the Stud ...
*
Mati Klarwein
Abdul Mati Klarwein (April 9, 1932 – March 7, 2002) was a French painter of German origin best known for his works used on the covers of music albums.
Personal life
Mati Klarwein was born in Hamburg, Germany. His mother Elsa Kühne was an ...
*
Vladimir Kush
Vladimir Kush (born 1965) is a Russian born American painter, jewelry designer and sculptor. He studied at the Surikov Moscow Art Institute, and after several years working as an artist in Moscow, his native city, he emigrated to the United Stat ...
*
Alan Lee
*
Rodney Matthews
Rodney Matthews (born 6 July 1945) is a British illustrator and conceptual designer of fantasy and science-fiction.
Career
Trained at the West of England College of Art, Matthews worked in advertising for Plastic Dog Graphics before turning ...
*
Kentaro Miura
was a Japanese manga artist. He was best known for his acclaimed dark fantasy series '' Berserk'', which began serialization in 1989 and continued until his death. As of 2021, ''Berserk'' had more than 50 million copies in circulation, making i ...
*
Ted Nasmith
Ted Nasmith (born 1956) is a Canadians, Canadian artist, illustrator and architectural rendering, architectural renderer. He is best known as an illustrator of J. R. R. Tolkien's works ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmaril ...
*
Odd Nerdrum
Odd Nerdrum (born 8 April 1944) is a Norwegian figurative painter, born in Sweden, and considered to be one of the greatest living classical figurative painters.
His work is held by museums worldwide. Themes and style in Nerdrum's work referenc ...
*
Octavio Ocampo
Octavio Ocampo (born 28 February 1943 in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico) is a Mexican surrealist painter. He grew up in a family of designers, and studied art from early childhood. At art school, Ocampo constructed papier mache figures for floats, alta ...
*
John Jude Palencar
John Jude Palencar (born February 26, 1957) is an American illustrator and fine artist, who specializes in works of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. In 2010, he was given the Hamilton King Award. His highly detailed work is described as co ...
*
Keith Parkinson
Keith A. Parkinson (October 22, 1958 – October 26, 2005) was an American fantasy artist and illustrator known for book covers and artwork for games such as ''EverQuest'', '' Guardians'', '' Magic: The Gathering'', and '' Vanguard: Saga of Hero ...
*
Richard M. Powers
*
Patrick J. Jones
*
Donald Pass
*
Bruce Pennington
*
Luis Royo
Luis Royo (born 1954) is a Spanish artist. He is best known for his fantasy illustrations published in numerous art books, magazines such as '' Heavy Metal'' and various other media including book and music CD covers, video games and Tarot cards ...
*
Mark Ryden
Mark Ryden (born January 20, 1963) is an American painter who is considered to be part of the Lowbrow (or Pop Surrealist) art movement.Ken Johnson"Mark Ryden: ‘The Gay 90s: Old Tyme Art Show" ''The New York Times'', May 6, 2010. Retrieved 2013 ...
*
De Es Schwertberger
*
Maurice Sendak
Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book ''Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 200 ...
*
Brian Selznick
Brian Selznick (born July 14, 1966) is an American illustrator and author best known as the writer of '' The Invention of Hugo Cabret'' (2007), '' Wonderstruck'' (2011), ''The Marvels'' (2015) and ''Kaleidoscope'' (2021). He won the 2008 Caldeco ...
*
Luigi Serafini
*
Wojciech Siudmak
Wojciech Kazimierz "Wojtek" Siudmak (born 10 October 1942 in Wieluń) is a Polish painter, currently living in France. He was a student at Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. His works are often used as illustrations for science fiction and fantasy lit ...
*
Boris Vallejo
Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941) is a Peruvian-American painter who works in the science fiction, fantasy, and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have appeared on the covers of numerous science fiction and fantasy fiction ...
*
Robert Venosa Robert Venosa (January 21, 1936 – August 9, 2011) was an American artist who resided in Boulder, Colorado, USA. He studied with what are termed the New Masters. His artworks reside in collections around the world.
Life and works
Venosa first stud ...
*
Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan (born 29 June 1950) is an American artist of imaginative realism. For more than 30 years, he worked as an illustrator, specializing in science fiction and fantasy cover art. Since the mid-1990s, he has pursued a fine art career, ...
*
Bernie Wrightson
Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...
*
Jacek Yerka
Jacek Yerka (born Jacek Kowalski in 1952) is a Polish surrealist painter from Toruń. Yerka's work has been exhibited in Poland, Germany, Monaco, France, and the United States, and may be found in the museums of Poland.
Early life
Jacek Yerka wa ...
Non-European art
Non-European art may contain fantastic elements, although it is not necessarily easy to separate them from religious elements involving supernatural beings and miraculous events.
Sculptor
Bunleua Sulilat
Bunleua Sulilat (June 7, 1932 – August 10, 1996; often referred to as Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat; th, หลวงปู่บุญเหลือ สุรีรัตน์, , ; numerous variants of the spelling exist in Western languages ...
is a notable contemporary Asian Fantastic artist.
See also
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Dream art
Dream art is any form of art that is directly based on a material from one's dreams, or a material that resembles dreams, but not directly based on them.
History
The first known reference to dream art was in the 12th century, when Charles Coop ...
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Outsider art
Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates e ...
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Society for the Art of Imagination
The Society for Art of Imagination (AOI) is an international artists' society whose stated mission is to promote art of vision and craftsmanship. It has branches all over the world, and the American branch is a registered charity. AOI is affiliat ...
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Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
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Vienna School of Fantastic Realism
The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism (german: Wiener Schule des Phantastischen Realismus) is a group of artists founded in Vienna in 1946. It includes Ernst Fuchs (artist), Ernst Fuchs, Helmut Leherb, Maître Leherb (Helmut Leherb), Arik Brauer ...
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Gruyères Castle
References
Bibliography
* Coleman, A.D. (1977). ''The Grotesque in Photography''. New York: Summit, Ridge Press.
* Watney, Simon (1977). ''Fantastic Painters''. London: Thames & Hudson.
* Colombo, Attilio (1979). ''Fantastic Photographs''. London: Gordon Fraser.
* Johnson, Diana L. (1979). ''Fantastic illustration and design in Britain, 1850–1930''. Rhode Island School of Design.
* Krichbaum, Jorg & Zondergeld. R.A. (Eds.) (1985). ''Dictionary of Fantastic Art''. Barron's Educational Series.
* Menton, Seymour (1983). ''Magic Realism Rediscovered 1918–1981''. Philadelphia, The Art Alliance Press.
* Day, Holliday T. & Sturges, Hollister (1989). ''Art of the Fantastic: Latin America, 1920–1987''. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art.
* Clair, Jean (1995). ''Lost Paradise: Symbolist Europe''. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
* Palumbo, Donald (Ed.) (1986). ''Eros in the Mind's Eye: Sexuality and the Fantastic in Art and Film'' (Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy). Greenwood Press.
* Stathatos, John (2001). ''A Vindication of Tlon: Photography and the Fantastic''. Greece: Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
* Schurian, Prof. Dr. Walter (2005). ''Fantastic Art''. Taschen. (English edition)
* BeinArt collective (2007). ''Metamorphosis''. beinArt.
* "El Canto de Abraxas" (2016) de Álvaro Robles G. (Editorial Salón Arcano)
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Visual arts genres