Boris Vallejo - master of the fantasy genre

In the world of painting there are creators who do not wait for museum confessions and cloying admiration of critics. In some ways Boris Vallejo is an artist of the "applied" genre, and his works fall under a wide range of the category of commercialized art. But how bad is this engagement, multiplied by talent?

The master of the genre of fantasy

A huge number of books are published every year in the USA - over 50,000 titles. And every book according to the laws of the genre - whether it's a fantasy, a love story or a thriller - must have a thoughtful and attractive dust jacket to be better bought. In this regard, Boris Vallejo is a universally recognized master. Which, by the way, has even counterfeit imitators both in America and abroad.

Painter Boris Vallejo

Fantasy is quite an original and popular literary genre throughout the world. And in America 80-90's - in particular. Born in Peru in 1941, Boris Vallejo (Valejo, Valeggio - there are different transcriptions of the translation of the name Vallejo) in 1964 moved to the states. Already in 1968, it became popular to create a poster for one of the films in the fantasy style. Since then, it is in great demand for creating covers and announcements, getting a lot of money for it. Such films of the 90's of the corresponding genre, such as "Knights on Wheels", "Q", "Queen of Barbarians", comedy "Vacation", "Vacation in Europe", "Team Fast Food", were not without his brush.

Models for pictures

Boris Vallejo is married to a famous American artist. Julia Bell, whose style of painting largely coincides with the works of the master, is also a model-model for many of her husband's works. Pictures are distinguished by a large number of nudity (both female and male), but in this the couple do not see anything shameful. By the way, for pictures, Bell Boris too often poses in an open form. The artist says in an interview that he simply likes to portray beautiful and strong bodies of people, that exposure is natural for a person. Why is the picture a lot of eroticism and even sex? Because without him, none of us would exist (so says Boris).

Boris Vallejo. Paintings

Such an abundance of "nudity" and overt conventions - all the same, the genre itself has - brought the artist a wide-ranging fame both in America and abroad. For example, even in the USSR, during the period of the restructuring, calendars and posters with photocopies of the maestro's paintings began to be sold. But not all art critics perceived Vallejo positively and seriously. There were also devastating articles asserting that, they say, in such openwork armor, which are painted in the picture, it is impossible not only to fight, but even to pass through the thickets of nettle, for example. Be that as it may, many of the works literally cut into memory, and afterwards they are remembered repeatedly, but is it an indicator?

Among the most famous works of the artist - one of the first sketches he painted: an order for a book by Burroughs "I am a Barbarian", thanks to which Vallejo literally soared to the heights of popularity. And in terms of demand, I got a job in the publishing house for many years to come! As a rule, paintings of the master have no names, and they depict dragons, warriors, half-naked girls, monsters. A characteristic feature: no matter how fantastic the plot, everything is written very realistically and to the smallest detail (for example, the muscles of the human body or the dragon's head), a kind of fantastic realism!

Dynasty and transfer of skill

By the way, Vallejo - a whole dynasty of contemporary artists. First, Bell, which in itself is quite famous in the states. The son Dorian also draws in the style of fantasy and works simultaneously with portraiture. Maya's daughter is an artist and photographer. Stephens Anthony and David are artists working for the US galleries, as well as illustrators for books of an art genre (mostly fantasy and fantasy).