Christopher Foss (born 1946) is a British illustrator and science fiction artist, best known for his science fiction book covers and the illustrations for the original editions of The Joy of Sex. Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. For the vector -based drawing program by Adobe Systems, see Adobe Illustrator. The Joy of Sex was an illustrated Sex manual by Alex Comfort, M
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Science-fiction illustrations
His evocative science fiction book covers pioneered a much-imitated style featuring vast, colourful spaceships, machines and cities, often marked with mysterious symbols. Human figures are (almost always) totally absent. These images are suggestive of science fiction in general rather than depictions of specific scenes from books, and therefore can be -- and have been -- used interchangeably on book covers. During the 1970s, Foss's images of future technology had the same iconic "defining" quality that H.R. Giger's would have in terms of depictions of alien or future life forms. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Hans Ruedi Giger (ˈɡi ɡɚ (born at Chur, Grisons Canton, February 5, 1940) is an Academy Award -winning Swiss
Books featuring Foss illustrations include the 1970s British paperback covers for Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, the Terran Trade Authority, several Edmund Cooper novels, and E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian The Foundation Series is an epic Science fiction series written over a span of forty-four years by Isaac Asimov. The Terran Trade Authority is a science-fiction setting originally presented in a collection of four large illustrated Science fiction books published between Edmund Cooper ( April 30, 1926 - March 11, 1982) was an English poet and prolific writer of speculative fiction and other genres including E E Smith, also Edward Elmer Smith PhD, EE "Doc" Smith, Doc Smith, "Skylark" Smith, and (to family Ted The Lensman series is a serial Science fiction Space opera by E Some of the art he did produce was specific to the stories and some examples of this are the covers he did for the Grafton publications of the Demon Princes novels by Jack Vance in the late 1980s, Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face and The Book of Dreams. John Holbrook Vance (born August 28, 1916 in San Francisco, Star King (also published as The Star King) is the first of the Demon Princes novels by Jack Vance. The Killing Machine ( 1964) is the second of Jack Vance 's " Demon Princes " novels in which Kirth Gersen, having brought The arch-criminals Malagate the Woe and Kokor Hekkus are no more The Face is the fourth novel (1979 of Jack Vance 's " Demon Princes " science fiction series in which Kirth Gersen pursues The Book of Dreams is the fifth and last novel (1981 of Jack Vance 's " Demon Princes " science fiction series in which Kirth Gersen
In 1975 Foss was hired by director Alejandro Jodorowsky for an intended film version of the science-fiction novel Dune by author Frank Herbert. Alejandro Jodorowsky (ɑːlɛˈxɑːndrɒ jɒdɒˈrɒvskiː (born February 7 1929 in Tocopilla, Chile, of a Jewish Russian (Ukranian immigrant family Dune is a Science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965. Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr ( October 8 1920 &ndash February 11 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American He delivered several conceptual studies published in the book 21st Century Foss, ISBN 90-6332-571-1, containing a foreword by Jodorowsky. The project failed. In 1977 Foss worked for several month on studies for the movie Alien (not being used in the movie) and also did some designs of the planet Krypton for the movie Superman. Alien is a 1979 science fiction / Horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Sigourney Weaver. Superman (also known as Superman The Movie) is a 1978 Superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the Some of his crystal structures for the planet were realised in the movie, although they were used as ice-structures.
During this period Chris Foss illustrated the sleeve of the album Clear Air Turbulence for the Ian Gillan Band. Clear Air Turbulence is an album by British jazz-rock fusion band Ian Gillan Band, released in 1977 with cover by Chris Foss. The Ian Gillan Band was a jazz-rock fusion band formed by Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan in 1975.
Chris Foss also released a book that was vague in many of the details of its production called Diary of a Spaceperson, published by 'Paper Tiger' (ISBN 1-85028-049-5). It has a copyright date of 1990. It is obviously a tome of his work, to date. However there is no way of knowing what that date is, which in some way provides some potency to the story within, as it is stated in the forward page that "the contents of the book are extracts of a ‘spaceperson's diary’ and are duplicated within", and ‘that the dates published within are of no meaning’. This gives the book a 'lost and found feel'. Making it timeless in a sense, much like his work.
Although there is a vast number of his paintings within the book, hardly a large percentage of what he has produced is featured, and the diary text itself, (fictional of course), also bears little connection to the paintings, except in some contrived ways. There is also no mention of the actual or original titles for any of the featured artworks, but many have been seen on the covers of authors' science fiction.
It also features many sketches in various states of completion, some of which are seen completed and painted in other parts of the book. This can be illuminating of his techniques. In fact only some of the images, all of which feature architecture and craft, are rendered in paint, the rest of the works are nudes and sketches of women.
However there is sometimes a difficulty in seeing if these nudes and portraits are actually the work of Foss. This is due in some way to such a diverse difference and lack of refinement of the pencil sketches as compared to the completely awesome airbrushed masterpieces, with their grand scale and brilliant colour.
However, in some of the sketches there are enough of his trademark features to give away the fact that they are his work, some are shaded, some are hatched, and some are simply line drawings, there is one on the rear cover that is coloured and inked, but is featured in greyscale within the book. The women are beautiful, and very naturally rendered and are tastefully posed and illustrated, most of them are scantily clad, some are completely nude, and some are in evocative poses.
Painter Glenn Brown has appropriated individual space scene paintings by Foss and in the one case copying and altering it (Exercise One (for Ian Curtis), 1995) and in the other, leaving it entirely unchanged (Dark Angel (for Ian Curtis), 2002). Glenn Brown (born 1966 in Hexham) is an English artist and painter who was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2000 Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. The titles of these works reference the vocalist of the band Joy Division, who died by his own hand. Ian Kevin Curtis ( 15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was the vocalist and lyricist as well as occasional guitarist and keyboardist of the band Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester.
The Joy of Sex
In contrast, Foss's numerous illustrations for the sex manual The Joy of Sex are done in a much softer, natural style. Sex manuals are Books which explain how to perform Sexual intercourse and other Sexual practices They often also feature advice on Birth control The Joy of Sex was an illustrated Sex manual by Alex Comfort, M The illustrations were based on original photographs of the book's art director and his wife. The illustrations have since become somewhat dated, mainly because of changes in hairstyles.
Official Website
The official Chris Foss website was launched in 2005, in conjunction with a web forum where the artist himself was apparently going to participate. Whilst the forum has seen a small amount of activity, the artist has not participated on the board since its inception and is not an active forum member. Disappointingly, the promise that original works would be made available for purchase has yet to eventuate (as of May 2006).
External links
- Chris Foss's Official site, originals and prints available for sale
- Chris Foss's Official forum
- A gallery of Chris Foss's work
- A gallery of Chris Foss's french books covers
- About Chris Foss, in French
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