Art and Science-Fiction
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| Title: | Art and Science-Fiction |
| Creator: | John F. Burke |
| Date(s): | December 1938 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Science Fiction |
| Topic: | Popular artists, the purpose of science fiction |
| External Links: | Hosted online. Novae Terrae #28 pp. 3-5. Dec. 1938. |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Art and Science-Fiction was a 1938 essay by John F. Burke. Burke had been to a meeting of the Liverpool branch of the Science-Fiction Association, at which a member had told him that he never looked at the illustrations in prozines like Astounding. Several people sighed in horror, prompting Burke to wonder whether science fiction fans were actually more concerned with its artistic qualities than with the science itself.
Excerpts
The first science-fiction magazines I ever read were, of course, illustrated by Paul, and although I had never evinced any interest in people who would splash colour about or make scratches with pen and ink, I was attracted to them. Somehow, whatever their faults (and today I can see many faults in Paul's work) they lent an atmosphere to the magazine that has never been surpassed. Ever after I lent an eye to the illustrations. For some time I ignored an illustration if it was not by Paul, but as the years rolled by I naturally saw the folly of this, and started to look at other work. Marchioni, Winter, [Wallace] Saaty and all the rest....they made little appeal, but gradually something began to take hold. This may sound something like an autobiography but I think you will agree that most fans follow exactly the same path. I was not artistically inclined. When I drew a cow it would take an expert in mental telepathy to deduce what I was supposed to be doing. The idea of entering an art gallery was rather pitiful; yet after some years of reading science-fiction I go round criticising Wesso's inferior sketching, raving over the cross-hatching and flawless technique of Virgil Finlay (when is some editor going to realise what a swell stf illustrator Finlay would be?), the beautifully executed work of Dold, and so on.........Why?
I think the fact that true scientifiction enthusiasts are usually interested in art, even if they only say "that's pretty good" or "I think Wesso's lousy don't you" is that they are artistically minded rather than scientifically. Gernsback tried for many years to excuse his magazines by explaining that they encouraged young men to take an interest in science. Today we know this to be untrue, but we are still not quite sure what it is that makes us run around paying enormous sums in order to get hold of old, tattered magazines. Wollheim and his Communist friends assure us that we want to make the world better. Of course we do, but science-fiction doesn't help that in any way. Other miserable mortals will tell us that we want to escape the harsh realities of the world by drowning our sorrows in space-warps and biological monstrosities. If this were true of science-fiction fans only how do such folk explain an interest in detective magazines? Reading such stories is surely a form of excapism -- why pick on stf as something on its own? There must be something that leads us to science-fiction particularly. And that something|? I may be wrong, but I fancy it is a taste for good literature.
I do not deny the existence of Michelist or Escapists (far be it from me) but I contend that the majority of fans read because they want to read good literature and educate their minds.All right, you can shoot now.