Mort Kunstler: The Godfather Of Pulp Fiction Illustrators

by Robert Deis & Wyatt Doyle (Editors)

An overview of some of pulp artist Mort Kunstler's work for men's magazines, heavily illustrated.

Genres: Art

131 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2019

Reviews

[Dan Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have bought just about all the titles in the Men’s Adventure Library series, and this one just might be my favorite so far. The first and foremost reason: Mort Künstler. Anyone who knows anything about American magazine illustration knows that Künstler (born in Brooklyn in 1927 and still going strong) is one of the grand masters of the field. Whole other volumes could be dedicated to Künstler’s work in slick magazines, paperback book covers, movie posters, advertising, and legitimate historical paintings, but this book is devoted pretty much solely to his amazing work in the genre of men’s adventure magazines. If you’re looking for the particular sub-genre of “torture pulp” (square-jawed Yanks and curvy babes being done dirty by sadistic Nazis and other bad guys and gals), you won’t get that here, but you will get plenty of rousing scenes of war, jungle adventure, hunting-trips-gone-horribly-wrong, and good old-fashioned crime. I think my favorite in the latter category is the painting of a motorcycle bandit making his presumed getaway, while his mama on the back seat mows down the cops with what looks like an air-cooled belt-fed .30-caliber machine gun mounted on the rear fender of the chopper. Künstler is great at quiet scenes also, like paintings of bad-ass types just sitting around cleaning their guns while their molls loll around looking luscious. This is a large-format book, and the original paintings are each given a full page, without the text that appeared in the original publications, so all you get is Künstler and his genius. A brilliantly simple choice was made to present the art in chronological order, with a key in the back listing the date and origin of publication for each piece. For any fan of “pulp art” this beautifully-produced book is a necessity, and well worth the price.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is mostly 100+ pages of color reproductions of Kunstler's illustrations. These are just the illustrations and not magazine covers, so you can see the art without all the lettering etc. Before those pages is a fascinating section where Kunstler tells the story of how he got started as an illustrator, how he worked, and what media he sold his work to.

[John Peel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mort Kunstler spent most of his career illustrating men's magazines, creating paintings of war, action, hunting and more than a few risque ladies. This book is a lovely representation of much of his work. He has a talent for creating stories with just a single illustration. Delightful and great fun.

[Paul Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mort Kunstler, like Robert Mcginniss and Gil Cohen, is an underappreciated artistic master due to the venue in which his art appeared. The demands of the Men's Adventure Magazines lived or died by the art on their covers and their interior illustrations. The stories were surprisingly well written, but relied on the art to bring the readers to the words. The art of Mort Kunstler, as displayed in this beautifully and lovingly created collection, makes Kunsler's talent undeniable and his importance as an artist clear. Bravo!