The Art of Jeffrey Jones

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful profusely illustrated book.
Review: This volume does provide a sumptuous, if not quite complete, look at the art of Jeffrey Jones. THE ART OF JEFFREY JONES does justice to the art that it DOES reproduce. It's chock full of illustrations covering his career from his Frazetta inspired early work, through his pointillism of the mid 1970s up to his current monumental sculptural style. To me, that's the amazing thing about Jeff Jones: he never has grown complacent with his talent; he's continued to experiment and strive for stylistic growth throughout his life. The only constant has been his profectionism and Romanticism. This is lavishly displayed in this book's illustrations which range from four to a page postcard size reproductions, to some individual paintings spread over two pages with most of the illustrations being full page. The reproductions are superb, having rich, deep saturated color. ~~ Now for the bad news (which ain't so bad, just irritating).~~ The book could have been organized better. After a perfunctory forward by Arnie Fenner and a short and unsatisfying chapter of biographical notes comes the body of the book: the art. These are divided into seven arbitrary sections: 1. FANTASTY ART, 2. SCIENCE FICTION, 3. COMIC ART, 4. NIGHTSADE (horror), 5. PRIMITIVES (dinosaurs), 6. PURITAN (artwork about Robert E. Howard's character Solomon Kane) and THE GRACES (women). These are arbitrary because there's so much overlap in the themes of the artwork: those in FANTASY could be in NIGHTSHADE, PRIMITIVES or PURITAN and vice versa. The artwork isn't presented in chronological order but is scattered without reason, with a painting from 2000 followed by one from 1969. Luckily, Jeff Jones' style has evolved so radically through the years that it's easy differentiate old from new.~~ Also, only two of the artist's impressionistic landscape paintings are included. Did the editors believe that purchasers of this book were interested only in genre material? And, as mentioned by someone else, the inclusion of more drawings would have enriched this collection.~~ Still, this is an impressive book and its strengths FAR outweigh these minor quibbles. This is definitely a handsome presentation of beautiful art.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not enough
Review: Dozens and dozens Jeffrey Jones' wonderful paintings are beautifully produced in this fine book. Unfortunately, there is very little in the area of his sketches, and almost nothing of his comic work.

It might be argued that Jones' most original creations were his *Idyll* and *I'm Age* strips for National Lampoon and Heavy Metal. Certainly his work with pen-and-ink is nothing short of extraordinary. (I work with pen-and-ink myself and am in awe of his modeling techniques.) This book gives us only one single page of Idyll and one single page of I'm Age.

Because of these disappointing omissions I am tempted to give this book only two or three stars, but I give four stars in the hope that the Idyll and I'm Age strips will be collected together at a later time. They are brilliant, and from an artistic standpoint they are at least as important as the paintings.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not enough
Review: Dozens and dozens Jeffrey Jones' wonderful paintings are beautifully produced in this fine book. Unfortunately, there is very little in the area of his sketches, and almost nothing of his comic work.

It might be argued that Jones' most original creations were his *Idyll* and *I'm Age* strips for National Lampoon and Heavy Metal. Certainly his work with pen-and-ink is nothing short of extraordinary. (I work with pen-and-ink myself and am in awe of his modeling techniques.) This book gives us only one single page of Idyll and one single page of I'm Age.

Because of these disappointing omissions I am tempted to give this book only two or three stars, but I give four stars in the hope that the Idyll and I'm Age strips will be collected together at a later time. They are brilliant, and from an artistic standpoint they are at least as important as the paintings.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Jones
Review: I was quite disappointed by this book. I am a great fan of Jeffrey Jones' art, so it is not the content that I find fault with.

Even from the outside you can see that this book is too thin. There are many pictures, well printed, and most of them in pleasurably large format. But a large part of them were collected in the previous two volumes, "Yesterday's Lily" and "Age of Innocence", and there is not much that I haven't seen elsewhere.

For one of the genres' greatest legends this book is definitely too meagre. This man has been painting for over thirty years and has published very little in the last two decades, but we do not get to see what he has done. The selection of works seems uninformed and accidental, the arrangement random. The focus is on the most early and the most recent, but does not even begin to satisfyingly represent these periods. Not even one of his privately commissioned works is reproduced. We get to see only a handful of paintings from the 80s, and almost no comics or drawings.

The text to the book, with the exception of Jones' own six-page autobiographical essay, is superficial and uninformative, the few quotes of Jones' own words eclectic.

And what may be adequate design for "the year's best in contemporary fantastic art" is out of place for the presentation of an artist who has in his paintings allowed us to perceive the invisible.

"Age of Innocence", though very much thinner in volume, was much more intense in its focus and much more striking in its impression on me. If you want a good book, buy that one; but if you are a fan of Jeffrey Jones, well, I guess you will need this one as well.

A final word: I do not want to devalue the work of Arnie and Cathy Fenner, the editors of this volume. I do not understand the limitations that are forced on a publication like this one, but in their foreword the Fenners hint at the narrow leeway they were given. I am glad that the Fenners have undertaken the presentation of even this small and unsatisfying selection of the oeuvre of on of the masters of contemporary fantastic art, and they should receive an award for their efforts here and with "Spectrum" (even imperfect as that one is also).

Myself, I would have preferred a more exhaustive publication, and I would gladly have paid ten times the price for it. Now I will have to continue my life hungry: having tasted but without getting to know the art of Jeffrey Jones.

Rating:
Summary: an unnecessary book ...
Review: I was quite disappointed by this book. I am a great fan of Jeffrey Jones' art, so it is not the content that I find fault with.

Even from the outside you can see that this book is too thin. There are many pictures, well printed, and most of them in pleasurably large format. But a large part of them were collected in the previous two volumes, "Yesterday's Lily" and "Age of Innocence", and there is not much that I haven't seen elsewhere.

For one of the genres' greatest legends this book is definitely too meagre. This man has been painting for over thirty years and has published very little in the last two decades, but we do not get to see what he has done. The selection of works seems uninformed and accidental, the arrangement random. The focus is on the most early and the most recent, but does not even begin to satisfyingly represent these periods. Not even one of his privately commissioned works is reproduced. We get to see only a handful of paintings from the 80s, and almost no comics or drawings.

The text to the book, with the exception of Jones' own six-page autobiographical essay, is superficial and uninformative, the few quotes of Jones' own words eclectic.

And what may be adequate design for "the year's best in contemporary fantastic art" is out of place for the presentation of an artist who has in his paintings allowed us to perceive the invisible.

"Age of Innocence", though very much thinner in volume, was much more intense in its focus and much more striking in its impression on me. If you want a good book, buy that one; but if you are a fan of Jeffrey Jones, well, I guess you will need this one as well.

A final word: I do not want to devalue the work of Arnie and Cathy Fenner, the editors of this volume. I do not understand the limitations that are forced on a publication like this one, but in their foreword the Fenners hint at the narrow leeway they were given. I am glad that the Fenners have undertaken the presentation of even this small and unsatisfying selection of the oeuvre of on of the masters of contemporary fantastic art, and they should receive an award for their efforts here and with "Spectrum" (even imperfect as that one is also).

Myself, I would have preferred a more exhaustive publication, and I would gladly have paid ten times the price for it. Now I will have to continue my life hungry: having tasted but without getting to know the art of Jeffrey Jones.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Jones
Review: Questions have always circulated about Jeffrey Jones and his place in the history of 20th Century fantasy art: was he a monumental talent or just another Frazetta imitator? I think this book finally provides a definitive answer: he was both. THE ART OF JEFFREY JONES is a beautiful showcase that effectively traces Jones' transition from a Frazetta-wannabe in the 1960s to the truly gifted painter of the 1990s be became.
And I must disagree with Manfred's complaints and comparisons to previous Jones books: not only are Jones' earlier books long out of print, but THE ART OF JEFFREY JONES includes a great deal of work not included in any other collection (along with unpublished art credited as being painted in the '90s). While the text most certainly could have been expanded, I believe the editors have revealed more about Jones as an artist and person than any have previously and I came away with a better appreciation of this eccentric creator. A personal favorite.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful World of Women and Warriors
Review: This is one terrific book! It was a great trip down memory lane for me: Jeffrey Jones did the fantastic covers for many of the swords-and-sorcery paperbacks I read while growing up. In addition to the artwork for stellar talents like Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, and Karl Edward Wagner, Jones' beautiful paintings also brought class to less distinguished (but still fun)books by authors like Lin Carter and Gardner F. Fox. The wonderful artwork for many, many of these books is included, as well as a ton of great illustrations based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan adventures. The cover illustration is one of the best (and most understated) pieces of vampire artwork I've ever seen. The paintings are enlivened by Jones' personal reflections on his career, and the book concludes with striking samples of Jones' non-commercial art. Jones' smoldering, doe-eyed brunettes are the stuff dreams are made of!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful World of Women and Warriors
Review: This is one terrific book! It was a great trip down memory lane for me: Jeffrey Jones did the fantastic covers for many of the swords-and-sorcery paperbacks I read while growing up. In addition to the artwork for stellar talents like Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, and Karl Edward Wagner, Jones' beautiful paintings also brought class to less distinguished (but still fun)books by authors like Lin Carter and Gardner F. Fox. The wonderful artwork for many, many of these books is included, as well as a ton of great illustrations based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan adventures. The cover illustration is one of the best (and most understated) pieces of vampire artwork I've ever seen. The paintings are enlivened by Jones' personal reflections on his career, and the book concludes with striking samples of Jones' non-commercial art. Jones' smoldering, doe-eyed brunettes are the stuff dreams are made of!