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} }) </script> </div> </form> </fieldset> <article class="entryArticle content STeditorial"> <header class="entryHeader icon-art"> <h1 class="entryTitle">Emshwiller, Ed </h1> </header><p class='tagLine'>Entry updated 1 December 2024. Tagged: Artist, Film.</p><div class="browsingBtns"> <span> <input class="button PNI previous" type="button" onclick="window.location.href='/next.php?id=p&entry=emshwiller_ed'" value="Prev" /> </span> <span> <input class="button PNI next" type="button" onclick="window.location.href='/next.php?&entry=emshwiller_ed'" value="Next" /> </span> <span> <input class="button PNI incoming" type="button" onclick="window.location.href='/incoming.php?entry=emshwiller_ed'" value="About This Entry" title="What links to the entry; contributor initials explained; how to cite; other information" /> </span> <span style="cursor: pointer;" onclick="window.open('/gallery.php?link=emshwiller_ed');"> <img alt="Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com" style="margin: 0; position: relative; top:-2px;" src="/images/icon-gal.gif"></img></span> </div><p style='float:right; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:10px; position: relative; top: 3px;'> <a href='/gallery.php?id=Vincent-WhisperDeath.jpg' target='_blank'> <img src='https://x.sf-encyclopedia.com/gal/thumbs/Vincent-WhisperDeath.jpg' alt='pic'></a></p> <p>Working name of US illustrator and film-maker Edmund Alexander Emshwiller (1925-1990), who frequently signed his sf artwork "Emsh", with some early-1950s interior illustrations being signed "Willer"; married from 1949 until his death to writer Carol <a href="/entry/emshwiller_carol">Emshwiller</a>, who regularly served as his model for paintings of beautiful women. He studied art at the University of Michigan, the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, and the Art Students League in New York. Beginning in 1951 with artwork published in <a href="/entry/galaxy">Galaxy</a>, the amazingly prolific Emsh, along with vast numbers of interior illustrations, produced over four hundred cover paintings for two dozen magazines, including <a href="/entry/amazing">Amazing</a>, <a href="/entry/asf">Astounding</a>, <a href="/entry/if">If</a>, <a href="/entry/infinity_science_fiction">Infinity Science Fiction</a>, <i>The</i> <a href="/entry/fsf">Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction</a> (which he dominated through the 1950s), and <a href="/entry/startling_stories">Startling Stories</a>, as well as many hardback and paperback books; his work for <a href="/entry/ace_books">Ace Books</a> alone would have made his reputation. He, Frank Kelly <a href="/entry/freas_kelly">Freas</a> and Richard M <a href="/entry/powers_richard_m">Powers</a> were the undisputed rulers of the sf-art realm during the 1950s and early 1960s, and they were among the few sf artists of the time who could make a decent living from their work. Emshwiller shared the first <a href="/entry/hugo">Hugo</a> for Best Cover Artist with Hannes <a href="/entry/bok_hannes">Bok</a> in 1953, and won further Hugos in 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1964; during that period, the only other cover artists to win Hugos were Freas and Roy G <a href="/entry/krenkel_roy_g">Krenkel</a>.</p> <p>Emshwiller also painted abstract expressionist canvases for gallery exhibition and worked in experimental 16mm movie-making. <i>Dance Chromatic</i> (<i>1959</i>), his first film, and <i>Thanatopsis</i> (<i>1962</i>) are still remembered, and his 38-minute <i>Relativity</i> (<i>1966</i>) is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest short films ever made. This second career was notably distinguished, the Museum of Modern Art being one of many bodies to recognize its importance. In 1971 he began working with videotape, then a very new medium, and he was artist-in-residence at the Television Laboratory, WNET/13 in New York, winning yet more awards. From 1981 to 1986, he served as provost of the School of Film and Video at the California Institute of the Arts. After turning to full-time moviemaking in 1964, he thereafter only did occasional sf artwork as a favour to friends; one noteworthy project was the numerous interior illustrations for Harlan <a href="/entry/ellison_harlan">Ellison</a>'s massive anthology <i>Again, Dangerous Visions</i> (anth <b>1972</b>).</p> <p>As an sf artist, Emshwiller seemed equally at home in every sf illustrative mode, whether dramatic, symbolic or humorous, and he was adept in handling a wide variety of subject matter, from <a href="/entry/spaceships">Spaceships</a> and future <a href="/entry/cities">Cities</a> to whimsical <a href="/entry/aliens">Aliens</a> and gruesome <a href="/entry/monsters">Monsters</a>; he is described as "the great all-rounder of sf art" in Brian W <a href="/entry/aldiss_brian_w">Aldiss</a>'s <i>Science Fiction Art</i> (graph <b>1975</b>). A Google Images search of his name will reveal the truly astonishing number and variety of his works. His style was vigorous but polished, though his actual lines (especially in interior artwork) tended to be rough, assured, and full of character. While there is no denying his talent, he may have worked too speedily: from today's perspective, little of his sf artwork seems especially memorable, although some of his classic covers have been revived for recent book publications. For example, his cover for the December 1958 issue of <a href="/entry/if">If</a>, effectively illustrating Rog <a href="/entry/phillips_rog">Phillip</a>'s "Rat in the Skull" (December 1958 <a href="/entry/if">If</a>) with a close-up of a man's head cut away to reveal a controlling <a href="/entry/rats">Rat</a> inside, was used as the cover for the reprint anthology <i>Science Fiction Gems, Volume 2</i> (anth <b>2011</b>) edited by the Editors of Armchair Fiction. Even if his works are seen infrequently, however, Emshwiller will always be remembered for helping to shift sf <a href="/entry/illustration">Illustration</a> away from the colourful crudeness of the <a href="/entry/pulp">Pulp</a> magazines toward more sophisticated approaches. He was posthumously inducted into the <a href="/entry/sf_hall_of_fame">Science Fiction Hall of Fame</a> in 2007. [JG/PN/GW]</p> <p><b>see also:</b> <a href="/entry/asf">Astounding Science-Fiction</a>; <a href="/entry/frank_r_paul_award">Frank R Paul Award</a>; <a href="/entry/galaxy">Galaxy Science Fiction</a>.</p> <h3>Edmund Alexander Emshwiller</h3> <p><b>born</b> Big Rapids, Michigan: 16 February 1925</p> <p><b>died</b> Los Angeles, California: 27 July 1990</p> <p><b>about the artist</b></p> <ul class="x"> <li>Luis Ortiz. <em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=Emshwiller+Infinity+x+Two+The+Art+and+Life+of+Ed&field-author=Luis+Ortiz" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">Emshwiller: Infinity x Two: The Art & Life of Ed and Carol Emshwiller</a></em> (New York: Nonstop Press, <b>2007</b>) [nonfiction: study and life of Emshwiller with many illustrations, plus a study and life of Carol <a href="/entry/emshwiller_carol">Emshwiller</a>: illus/hb/from Ed Emshwiller]</li> <li><em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=Dream+Dance+The+Art+of+Ed+Emshwiller&field-author=Emshwiller+Ed" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">Dream Dance: The Art of Ed Emshwiller</a></em> (New York: Anthology Editions, <b>2019</b>) [graph: edited by Jesse Pires: hb/Ed Emshwiller]</li> </ul> <p><b>links</b></p> <ul class="x"> <li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?550">Internet Speculative Fiction Database</a></li> <li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0256680/">Internet Movie Database</a></li> <li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/25412">Project Gutenberg</a></li> <li><a target="_blank" href="https://sf-encyclopedia.com/gallery.php?link=emshwiller_ed">Picture Gallery</a></li> </ul> <p><b>previous versions of this entry</b></p> <ul><li><a href='https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/emshwiller_ed' target='_blank'>Internet Archive</a></li></ul><br /><br /></article></div> <div class="sideBarsWrapper"> <div class="sideBarsColsWrapper clearfix"> <div class="column sideBar12 clearfix"> <div class="columnForm"><aside id="blogFeed" class="widget"> <div class="content STeditorial clearfix"> <h2>Recently visited entries<span style="background:url(/images/thingSFE2.png) !important"></span></h2><ul style='width: 50%; 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