Draft:Jack Faragasso

Jack Faragasso (Born January 23, 1929) is an American artist, photographer, author and art instructor. He studied under the renowned painter Frank J. Reilly and is a part of the art lineage of Jacques-Louis David. Although having a prolific career in the fine arts, he is perhaps most known in popular culture as a science fiction artist. Creating art that has appeared on the cover of hundreds of science fiction, pulp, and gothic paperback books, such as, H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds and Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea. As of 2023, at the age of 94, he is Instructor Emeritus at The Art Students League of New York, the school at which he taught for nearly fifty years.

Early Life
Faragasso was born on January 23, 1929 in New York City. When Jack was only four years old, as a result of a traffic accident, he fractured both of his legs. Being bedridden, his family provided him coloring books and sketch pads and thus discovered his love for art. After finishing his secondary education, at the age of seventeen he joined the Army in 1947. Two years after his discharge, he enrolled in the Art Students League of New York, in the painting and drawing classes of Frank J. Reilly. Faragasso, who completed his training with frequent visits to museums in Europe and the United States to admire and study the works of the Old Masters, continued to attend Reilly’s classes.[6]

Career
When his mentor and instructor Frank J. Reilly decided to resign from Art Students League of New York and establish his own school, the Frank J. Reilly School of Art, Faragasso followed him there. After Frank J. Reilly's death, Faragasso was temporarily appointed as the new director of the art school in 1967.

The Following year, Faragasso returned to the Art Students League of New York, this time as a teacher. There, for the next 48 years, he became the reference teacher for the painting style of his former instructor, known as "the Reilly method" or "the Reilly system", to which he added his own principles. According to Faragasso, "In those days the galleries wouldn't touch realistic art"... "so you had to go do illustrations, and the biggest outlet was the paperback market, painting the covers for the paperbacks."

Book Covers
With realism falling out of vogue in the 1950's and avant-garde art garnering much attention, Faragasso began to freelance his craft, and found an outlet for his talent by working with book publishers to create the cover art for books. For over 30 years, he produced approximately 200 illustrations for works by classic authors such as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and H. P. Lovecraft. And also painting for contemporary authors such as, Philip K. Dick, Clifford D. Simak, Michael Moorcock, and A. E. van Vogt. [4]

Speaking on science fiction, Faragasso was quoted as saying, "I think I was born a mystic, I always had one foot in reality and one foot in the other world... And I was always interested in psychic phenomena and space..."

Notable science fiction cover art by Faragasso, with author and year published

 * The Explorers by C. M. Kornbluth - 1954
 * The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H. P. Lovecraft - 1965
 * The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick - 1966 and 1971
 * Empire of the Atom by A. E. van Vogt - 1966 and 1970
 * Ensign Flandry by Poul Anderson    - 1967
 * The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells    - 1967
 * The Changeling by A. E. van Vogt - 1967
 * Cities of Wonder by Damon Knight    - 1967
 * 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne    - 1968
 * Master of the World by Jules Verne - 1968
 * The Sword of the Daw n by Michael Moorcock - 1968
 * Other Worlds, Other Times by various authors - 1969
 * The Secret of the Runestaff    by Michael Moorcock - 1969
 * Way Station by Clifford D. Simak - 1969
 * The Cosmic Eye by Mack Reynolds    - 1969
 * When the Sky Burned by Ben Bova - 1974
 * The Many Worlds of Barry Malzberg by Barry Malzberg - 1975
 * The Deathworld Trilogy by Harry Harrison - 1976

As an author
Faragasso wrote his own art teaching books, his bestseller "The Student’s Guide to Painting" (1979), and "Mastering Drawing the Human Figure from Life, Memory, Imagination" (1998). To these were added more recent titles such as "The Early Photographs of Bettie Page" (2013), which contains the photo shoot of the Queen of the Pinups and "Poems of Love … and Other Thoughts" (2018), his first illustrated poetry book.

His books, "The Student's Guide To Painting" and "Mastering Drawing The Human Figure From Life, Memory, Imagination" are regarded as essential manuals for anyone interested in drawing, painting or sculpture.

As a photographer
In 1952, Jack Faragasso, a young student at the time, hired a model for a photo shoot at his apartment on 46th Street in New York. The model was Bettie Page before her career launched to the heights of being labeled “The Queen of Pin Ups”. Faragasso "was among the first to spot the 'it' factor in Bettie Page and shot some of the first professional images of her."

Speaking on the world famous Bettie Page, Faragasso said, "My best memory about the Bettie Page photo shoot was how utterly natural she appeared in her nudity. She sought to give you the best pose that she was capable of..."

Faragasso also recalls in his 2013 book, "She was readily and constantly suggesting poses and ideas along with our own. She was completely at ease with her nudity and posing, none of us were the slightest bit conscious of that fact. We were only aware of her naturalness, and beautifully formed figure."

Legacy
Jack Faragasso is known as the foremost authority on the Reilly system of drawing and painting. He has been the driving force in the continuation of this method to future generations of painters.

Many of his original paintings have been exhibited in a multifold of galleries in New York City, among others. His paintings are in numerous public and private collections, including those of Clare Booth Luce; financier James Rogers; Charles Osgood; the National Museum of American Art in Newport, Rhode Island; and the Museum of the Tuskegee Institute of Alabama. He is listed in The Biographical Dictionary of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, as well as many Who’s Who in American Art publications.