The Father of Fantasy’s Legacy Conquers the NFT Realm
Artist Fireside Chat: Frank Frazetta Museum x Makersplace
Frank Frazetta is a legend. He is world-renowned as the father of modern fantasy. Nearly everything today stems from inspiration driven by Frank Frazetta. He is an iconic craftsman of old school masterpieces that never really made it to the digital realm — at least until a few months ago when the The Frank Frazetta Museum released his legacy NFT collection that quickly sold out.
“There would be no Star Wars if it wasn’t for Frank’s inspiration.” — George Lucas
To give back to the throngs of worldwide fans and preserve the Frazetta legacy, The Frank Frazetta Museum was founded by Frazetta and his wife Ellie, footsteps from their home estate in East Stroudsburg, PA.
Ellie’s tough-as-nails managerial skills and her protective and competitive nature brought out the best in Frank. Much of his art depicting women was inspired by Ellie, by her own individual strength and the strength she imparted to Frank throughout their marriage which lasted for over 50 years. A blend of both Frank’s art and Ellie’s flea market treasures, the museum enshrines a legacy that belonged to them both.
The museum recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. After Ellie’s death in 2009 and Frank’s soon after in 2010, the museum was inherited by Frank’s son, Frank Jr. and his wife Lori.
GGian of $WHALE sat down with the couple to discuss Frank’s life, his art and the museum’s new venture into the NFT realm.
His Life
Frank Frazetta was born during the Depression and got spanked for drawing on toilet paper and carving on soap. His parents didn’t realize his gift at that young age.
His parents were called into school when he was 8 years old. Frank thought he was going to be in trouble, but his parents were the ones being yelled at — they needed to get this kid into art school immediately! Soon after he was enrolled in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Art. The head of the school was about to take Frank to Europe to further his education but died suddenly when Frank was 12. With that opportunity shot, Frank went into the comic world — and history was made.
While working as an artist by night, Frank was drafted to the New York Giants baseball team. But he ultimately decided to pass on the opportunity because at the time the pay was not good, and he did not want to be away from his family for long stretches of time as the career demanded.
Frank was a family man first and foremost. All of his oil paintings were done overnight. He would put his children to bed in the evening and he’d paint all through the night. By the time they’d wake up for school the next morning he’d be finished with a new piece of art.
He was not a prisoner to his art. No matter how crucial that deadline was, he would not miss an opportunity to be there for his family.
Mrs. Frazetta remembers, “I never knew Frank as an artist. I’ve been in the family for 42 years and never saw Frank paint. We only knew him as Dad and Grandpa. The minute we walked into the house with the kids he immediately just jumped down on the floor and started rolling around with these kids because that’s who Frank was.”
Frank was a family man first and foremost.
Some of his pieces have cracks because he dried them in the oven or with a hairdryer in order to get them done on time.
He was a simple man with simple tastes who scolded his son for building too much onto his house. As far as he was concerned, just walking around outside, every breath of air was special.
People asked him to teach his technique. He asked in return, “How do I teach people to see what’s in my head?” He would look at a blank canvas and just trace what he saw in his head. There was no secret to his art. He just did it. Says Frank Jr., “That’s what separates the great artists from the good artists — the gift of imagination.”
The NFTs
The very first NFT collection of the Frazetta Museum dropped on Makersplace this past April the 28th, 2021. Lori Frazetta enthuses about how proud Frank would be if he could see his pieces made into animations true to the original artwork. Frank Jr. cracks, “He wouldn’t understand it, but he’d be proud of it.”
Some of the pieces highlighted:
Mothman
Frank used his and his wife’s faces as he did in many of his pieces. George Lucas owns the original painting.
“Painted circa 1980, ‘Mothman’ is an iconic work by Frank Frazetta that was inspired by John Keel’s 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies. Keel, who was an American journalist and UFOlogist, popularized what several witnesses described as a man-sized, winged creature with glowing red eyes sighted in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, during 1966 and 1967. The book also combines these accounts with his theories on UFOs and supernatural phenomena, making connections to the collapse of the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River during that time.” — Makersplace
Silver Warrior
“Silver Warrior” is one of Frank Frazetta’s most famous works and a fan favorite.
“Frazetta was known for his darker palette and imagery, thus making Silver Warrior stand out from his other works with the use of a brighter backdrop, snow and light blue sky.
Painted in 1972, Silver Warrior was featured as the cover image for Michael Moorcock’s book The Silver Warriors. The painting depicts a decorated warrior with elaborate armor riding a sleigh while being pulled through the snow by polar bears. Frazetta intentionally painted the polar bears without chains to avoid detracting the viewer’s eye from the flow of the composition, further capturing the imagination of the viewer.” — Makersplace
Egyptian Queen
The “Egyptian Queen” original painting was sold for 5.4 million dollars.
It wasn’t seen as art in its own right until this sale was made. Illustration art was always commercial up until this point. This is the iconic piece with which Frank made illustration art important. Until then, originals would often get tossed after they fulfilled whatever purpose they were created for.
Frank was also the reason why illustrators were able to keep the rights to the art they made. His art was so much in demand that when new books were shipped to be sold, the covers were getting ripped off of all of the books in transit and they had to be sent back to the publishers. Eventually Frank said, “Listen, I’ll do the covers but it’s my art. I’m keeping it.” Mrs. Frazetta explains, “They agreed because they wanted him so bad. Today, artists can keep their art all because Frank demanded it.”
Today, artists can keep their art all because Frank demanded it.
“The Egyptian Queen, painted in 1969, is one of the most legendary paintings by Frank Frazetta and often referred to as his Mona Lisa. The painting also holds significant value to Frank because the figure in the painting is based on Frank’s wife, Ellie, when she was pregnant with her third child. The queen’s features are accentuated by the use of lighting and the vivid colors in the dress juxtaposed with the earthy tones in the foreground and background. The work first appeared in print on the cover for Eerie Magazine #23 in 1969, and was later featured on the cover of Creepy Magazine #92 in 1977. It is said that George Lucas used the painting of Egyptian Queen as his inspiration for the costume design for Princess Leia for Star Wars.” — Makersplace
The winner of the auction, Apollo NFT Studios, was given a physical lithograph on silk linen paper with a handmade remark signed by Frazetta, as well as a certificate of authenticity from the Frazetta Museum.
Variations
Additional NFTs released in this legacy collection include variants of the Death Dealer (the inspiration for Darth Vader), and The Barbarian.
In recent news regarding Frank Frazetta NFTs, “Blockchain gaming platform Vulcan Forged has secured the intellectual property (IP) rights for works included in the Frank Frazetta Art collection. The team plans to use these rights to create and distribute fantasy-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs), brandishing the famous works, in Vulcan’s in-game world the VulcanVerse.”
You can learn more about the Frank Frazetta Museum and their journey into NFTs via the links below:
🔗 Full Video: https://tinyurl.com/WHALEFM-Frazetta
🔗 Website: http://frazettamuseum.com/
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/frazetta_museum
🔗 MakersPlace: https://makersplace.com/frazettaartmuseum/
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