| The Homecoming
Illustration by Lawrence Sterne Stevens.
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Despite the wealth of information that can be found in books and the Internet, there are still drawings to be found that raise the question 'Is It Virgil Finlay, or Not?'.
One of the main sources of the confusion is the similarity of the art by Lawrence Sterne Stevens, especially from 1943 onward, with the art by Virgil Finlay. This similarity is however in many cases on purpose! Sam Moscowitz, in his book Strange Horizon: The Spectrum of Science Fiction (1976) states that after Virgil Finlay was enlisted into the U.S. armed forces, Famous Fantastic Mysteries specifically asked Lawrence Sterne Stevens to draw like Virgil Finlay.
In his youth, Lawrence Sterne Stevens, born in December 1886, was well trained in fine-line and cross-hatching techniques. According to Sam Moscowitz the approximation of Virgil Finlay's techniques was remarkable. No wonder that for some drawings the artist is uncredited. Generally speaking, the resolution of the question is not aided by the fact that Lawrence Sterne Stevens usually did not sign his published art. Herein may also lie an answer, since, in contrast, Virgil Finlay is known to have signed almost all his published art.
As a case study, consider the following drawing.
| The Homecoming
Illustration by Lawrence Sterne Stevens.
|
The drawing is by Lawrence Sterne Stevens, but a quick search on the Internet reveals that the drawing is also assigned,and wrongly so, to Virgil Finlay. The drawing serves itself serves as an illustration that Lawrence Sterne Stevens was capable of fine line drawings, full of detail, where in particular the two persons in the foreground are Virgil Finlay like art.
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In Caverns Below Published by Thrilling Wonder LLC, 1979. |
