In weighing the loss of Frank Frazetta I think about what I always think about when I think about Frazetta – Caravaggio.
That is, he, like Caravaggio, took the fables and fantasies he passionately depicted just seriously enough, a precise ratio of rigor and rapture. It’s why the work is so powerful, so definitive – Frazetta painted with just enough supple realism, while conjuring just enough alien atmosphere, that he imbued the fantastic with the weight of fact.
(above, Frazetta’s covers for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars series)