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Hal Foster

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This article is about the comic strip artist. For the art critic and Princeton professor, seeHal Foster (art critic).
Hal Foster
Foster at his drawing board in 1962
BornHarold Rudolf Foster
(1892-08-16)August 16, 1892[1]
Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada
DiedJuly 25, 1982(1982-07-25)(aged 89)
Hernando, Florida,U.S.
Area(s)Writer, Artist
Notable works
Prince Valiant,Tarzan
AwardsInkpot Award(1977)[2]

Harold Rudolf Foster,FRSA(August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic stripPrince Valiant.His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship and attention to detail.

Born inHalifax,Nova Scotia,Canada, Foster moved to the United States in 1921, and began his illustration career inChicago,eventually becoming an American citizen. In 1928, he began one of the earliest adventure comic strips, an adaptation ofEdgar Rice Burroughs'sTarzan.In 1937, he created his signature strip, the weeklyPrince Valiant,a fantasy adventure set in medieval times. The strip featured Foster's dexterous, detailed artwork; Foster eschewed word balloons, preferring to have narration and dialogue in captions.[3]

Early life

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Born inHalifax,Nova Scotia,Foster was a staff artist for Stovel, Commercial Art Co., W.M. Buckley Studio, and Brigdens Limited inWinnipeg.In 1919, Foster rode his bicycle toChicagoto see what the job market was like. He later moved there in 1921, and began working for the Jahn & Ollier Engraving Co.[4]Foster freely "audited" classes at theChicago Academy of Fine Arts,a practice commonly made back then by poor students, which is confirmed by the fact that the Art Institute has no record of him taking formal classes. The illustratorJ. C. Leyendeckerwas an early influence on Foster.[5]

In 1925, Foster began working for the Chicago advertising studio Palenske-Young, Inc., and his clients were: Union Pacific Railroad, Johnson Outboard Motors, Wurlitzer Grand Pianos, Jelke Margarine, and the International Truck Company. In 1928, Palenske-Young was hired by Joseph Henry “Joe” Neebe, owner ofFamous Books and Plays,to adapt the novelTarzanbyEdgar Rice Burroughsinto a 10-week comic strip series. Foster was selected to illustrate the adaptation, which first appeared in the British weekly magazineTit-Bitson October 20, 1928. The series was later published in the United States, beginning on January 7, 1929. Foster returned to do theTarzanSunday stripbeginning September 27, 1931, continuing untilBurne Hogarthtook over the SundayTarzanon May 9, 1937.[6]

Prince Valiant

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William Randolph Hearst,who had long wanted Foster to do a comic strip for his newspapers, was so impressed with Foster's pitch forPrince Valiantthat he promised Foster a 50-50 split of the gross income on the strip, a very rare offer in those days.Prince Valiantpremiered on February 13, 1937. It still continues today by other creators since the 1970s. In 1944, Foster and his wife Helen moved fromEvanston, IllinoistoRedding Ridge, Connecticut.In 1954, the couple was seen on television'sThis Is Your Life.In 1971, the Fosters retired toSpring Hill, Florida.In 1967,Woody Gelmanrevived some of Foster's earlier work for his Nostalgia Press.[7]

Retirement and death

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In 1970, Foster was suffering fromarthritisand began planning his retirement. He had several artists drawSunday pagesbefore choosingJohn Cullen Murphyas his collaborator and permanent replacement in 1971. Murphy drew the strip from Foster scripts and pencil sketches.[4]Foster stopped illustrating (and signing) thePrince Valiantpages in 1971 – with the exception being Page #2000, on June 8, 1975, that featured reprinted vignettes of previous panels along with his signature. For nine years, Foster continued writing the strip and making fairly detailed 8.5-inch (220 mm) x 11-inch (280 mm) penciled layouts for Murphy, until he sold the strip to King Features Syndicate in 1979. Prolonged anesthesia during a hip replacement surgery in November 1979 took his memory, and he no longer remembered ever doingTarzanorPrince Valiant.

Foster attended theComic Art Conventionin 1969, and theOrlandoConin 1974 and 1975.[8][9]

Foster was 73 when he was elected to membership in UK'sRoyal Society of Arts,an honor given to very few Americans.[10]

Foster died at a care facility in Hernando, Florida in 1982.[11]

Influence and legacy

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Foster is a seminal figure in the history of comics, especially action-adventure strips.R.C. Harveyargues that Foster andFlash GordonartistAlex Raymond"created the visual standard by which all such comic strips would henceforth be measured."[12]

Foster's clear yet detailed panels, uncluttered by word balloons, were appreciated by contemporaries of his generation such asLynd Ward,[13]but perhaps his greatest impact was on the young artists who drove theGolden Age of Comics.Foster was a major influence on this generation, many of whom went on to become iconic and influential artists themselves.Joe Kubertcalled Foster, Raymond andMilton Caniffthe "three saints" of comic art in the 1930s and 1940s.[14]Several sources have identified early work byJoe Simon,Jack KirbyandBob Kaneasswipesfrom Foster,[15][16][17]and Kirby claimed that he "cannibalized" Foster's style, among others.[18]Kirby also stated that the character design forEtrigan the Demonwas an homage to Foster, taken from aPrince Valiantstrip.[15]Wally Woodwas "obsessed" with Foster's work, and began copying his newspaper strips at the age of two.[19]Frank Frazettacalled Foster's work onTarzan"perfection, a landmark in American twentieth-century art that will never be surpassed."[20]Among the many other artists who have cited Foster as an important influence areCarl Barks,[21]Steve Ditko,[22]Mark Schultz,[23]William Stout,[24]Bill Ward,[25]andAl Williamson.[24]Williamson, who met Foster on a few occasions, described him as "a very stern gentleman, very stern, no nonsense. You could never call him Hal or Harold, it's Mr. Foster.... you don't see that kind of people anymore, the ones that really command your respect."[26]

Awards

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Foster won The Silver Lady Award (The Artists and Writers Association, 1952); the Gold Medal Award (Parent’s Magazine, 1954); the Golden Lion Award (Burroughs Bibliophiles, 1967); the Alley Award (Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences, 1967, 1968 & 1969); the Adamson Award (Swedish Academy of Comic Art, 1969); the Ignatz Award (OrlandoCon, 1974); the Inkpot Award (San Diego Comic-Con International, 1977); and the Sondermann Award (Frankfurt Book Fair, 2008). Foster was also recognized for his work by theNational Cartoonists Societywith theReuben Awardin 1957, Silver T-Square Award (1975), Gold Key Award (1977), Elzie Segar Award (1978), Best Story Strip plaque (1964, 1971, 1974, 1976 & 1978), and Special Feature plaque (1966 & 1967), all forPrince Valiant.A rare honor came in 1965, when Foster was made aFellow of the Royal Society of Arts(FRSA) in London, a first for any American cartoonist. More than any other cartoonist or illustrator, Foster is in five artistic Halls of Fame: The National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame (1977), The Museum of Cartoon Art Hall of Fame (1977), TheWill Eisner AwardHall of Fame (1996), and theJoe Shuster Canadian Comic Book CreatorsHall of Fame (First Annual, 2005, accepted on behalf of the family by writer-artistDave Sim,a longtime admirer of Foster's work.[27]), and theSociety of Illustrators' Hall of Fame (2006).[28]

References

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  1. ^"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JTRZ-ZPP:accessed 25 Feb 2013), Harold Foster, July 1982; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
  2. ^Inkpot Award
  3. ^Kane 2001,p. 67.
  4. ^abMastrangelo, Joseph P. (April 22, 1978)."Val's Sire at 85".The Washington Post.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  5. ^Donoghue, Steve, "Prince of a Lost Realm",Open Letters Monthly(book review), archived fromthe originalon March 23, 2019,retrievedSeptember 18,2010.
  6. ^Markstein, Don, "Prince Valiant",Toonopedia.
  7. ^Jamieson, Dave.Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession,pp. 125–126. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press (imprint of Grove/Atlantic), 2010.ISBN978-0-8021-1939-1
  8. ^Jim Ivey's Photo Album, Part One
  9. ^San Diego Comic Con 1974
  10. ^Kane 2001,p. 155.
  11. ^Ancestry dot com Death Record
  12. ^Harvey, R.C.(Jan 2009). "Alex Raymond at Last".The Comics Journal(295): 161–173. ISSN 0194-7869.
  13. ^Spiegelman, Art(October 13, 2010)."The Woodcuts of Lynd Ward".The Paris Review.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  14. ^Lundy, Tiel (2011). "Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist".Shofar29 (2): 193. doi:10.1353/sho.2011.0069.
  15. ^abCronin, Brian (January 8, 2009)."Comic Book Legends Revealed #189".Comic Book Resources.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  16. ^Cronin, Brian (September 18, 2008)."Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #173".Comic Book Resources.Archived fromthe originalon June 30, 2016.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  17. ^Mendryk, Harry (August 28, 2009)."Jack Kirby, Fanboy".The Jack Kirby Museum.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  18. ^Best, Daniel (August 19, 2012)."The 1975 COMIC ART CONVENTION: Jack Kirby, Walter Gibson and Jim Steranko".20th Century Danny Boy.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  19. ^McLauchlin, Jim (June 30, 2010)."Tragic Genius: Wally Wood".The Hero Initiative.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  20. ^Winiewicz, Dave (September 21, 2011)."Frazetta and Hal Foster".Frazetta.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  21. ^Carl Barks: Conversations
  22. ^Goode, Gregory (Nov 2, 2009) "Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man, is 82 today".Examiner.com
  23. ^Schultz, Mark(March 8, 2011)."Mark Schultz on the Art of Hal Foster".A Prince Named Valiant.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  24. ^abSeneca, Matt (October 18, 2011)."Prince Valiant, Volume 4: 1943-1944".The Comics Journal.RetrievedJanuary 21,2014.
  25. ^Ward, Bill."Autobiography".Bill Ward Archive
  26. ^Zimmerman, Dwight Jon (November 1988). "Al Williamson".Comics Interview.No. 62.Fictioneer Books.p. 59.
  27. ^National Cartoonists Society Awards
  28. ^Kane, Brian,Foster(biography), BPIB.

Sources

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