Samson Pollen, who passed away in December of 2018 at age 87, was one of the grandmasters of both MAM illustrations and paperback cover art.
A few years before he died, I contacted Pollen to ask if he’d be willing to let me publish a book showcasing his original illustration, as part of the “Men’s Adventure Library” book series I edit with Wyatt Doyle. He was, and we soon discovered that Sam had done enough MAM and paperback artwork to fill several books.
We published two before he died: Pollen’s Women, which focuses on MAM artwork he created that features images of alluring female characters, and Pollen’s Action, which focuses on scenes he painted for some of the wild action/adventure stories that appeared in the MAM genre. He also gave us scores of examples of his paperback cover art.
There were two periods in his career when Pollen did paperback cover paintings. The first was from the early 1950s to 1960. During the ’60s, he primarily did artwork for MAMs. As they began to fade away, he focused on paperback covers again from the late ’60s to the mid-’90s.
Pollen was born in the Bronx on March 19, 1931. His family moved to Brooklyn when he was 11. From an early age, he showed a talent for artwork. This was noticed by a high school teacher who helped him get enrolled at the venerable National Academy of Design in Manhattan. There he was taken under the wing of the school’s Dean, Charles Louis Hinton, a legendary painter, sculptor, book illustrator and muralist.
This story is from the Illustration No. 67 edition of Illustration.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Illustration No. 67 edition of Illustration.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
THE ART OF PAUL BRANSOM
Paul Bransom (1885-1979) was widely known as the Dean of American Animal Artists. His work appeared on the covers of magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and served as illustrations of short stories in periodicals and in books. He provided the illustrations for some 45 books, most notably the 1912 edition of Jack London’s Call of the Wild and the 1913 edition of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.
THE ART OF FRANK MCCARTHY
Witnessing a Wild West show as a young boy was a crucial early influence that led Frank McCarthy to become a distinguished painter of Western historical themes. The excitement and emotion he felt that day stayed with him, and can be seen in the vivid action, color, and splendor that emanate from his paintings.
THE ART OF WARD BRACKETT
Ward Brackett (April 2, 1914–December 14, 2006) was a gifted American illustrator, known for his work in paperback books and periodicals such as Reader’s Digest and Cosmopolitan.
THE ART OF N.C. WYETH
For over 25 years, N.C. Wyeth was regarded as the foremost illustrator of books and magazines in the United States. His artwork for iconic tales of romance and adventure has become synonymous with the stories themselves, familiar to multiple generations of readers. Some of the best-known characters in literature have become nearly indistinguishable from the images he produced.
THE ART OF CHARLES LASALLE
\"We have some artists in the family.\" I didn't know it at the time, but my future father-in-law Aiden E. LaSalle was a master of understatement.
THE ART OF PRUETT CARTER
Pruett Carter was once recognized as one of America's top illustrators, during a time when illustrations were viewed primarily as easel paintings
THE ART OF RAYMOND JOHNSON
Raymond Sven (Ray) Johnson was a commercial illustrator who created iconic paperback book covers spanning all genres of fiction for Avon, Popular Library, Monarch and other publishers from the late 1940s through the early 1960s.
"Blow some my way"
THE DELINEATION OF DESIRE IN 1920s COMMERCIAL ILLUSTRATION
THE ART OF FRITZ WILLIS
Fritz Willis was born in Oklahoma in 1907, and raised in Boston.
THE ART OF WILLIAM OBERHARDT
Illustrator William Oberhardt (1882-1958) was born in Guttenberg, New Jersey, 1882.
