Frank Frazetta Painting Sells for $1,792,500
(Image and information provided by Heritage Auctions – HA.com)
On May 12th, 2018 the Frank Frazetta painting Death Dealer 6 went on auction at Heritage Auctions. The painting was done in 1990 and is an oil on masonite (18″ x 30″). Within a few minutes the bidding went from $600,000 to $1,500,000. With the buyer premium the final sale value was $1,792,500. Original art by Frank Frazetta can often bring in well over $100,000 but this painting shattered the previous Frazatta record. This painting was used as the cover of Death Dealer #6 by Image Comics in 2008. In the iconic Frazetta style, this painting features the barbarian swinging an axe while riding his horse as he is fighting a large snake-like serpent.
Frank Frazetta (1927 – 2010)
Mr. Frazetta was a child prodigy and began drawing at the age of three. Frank studied at the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts under Michael Falanga from age 8 until he was 16. By the time he was 16 years old he had officially begun his professional career. Frank worked on inking a comic drawings in his first comic ‘The Snowman’ which was published in Tally-Ho Comics in 1944. Between the mid-1940’s through 1950’s he worked on many comics and illustrated publications. He was involved in many genres such as western, fantasy, science fiction, mystery and historical fiction. He worked for companies such as EC, National Comics, Avon Comics, among others. Frank’s illustrations have been used in movie posters, album covers, magazines, comics and many fantasy and science fiction book covers. Over the years he worked on some amazing projects such as Famous Funnies, Johnny Comet, Al Capp’s Li’l Abner, Playboy’s Little Annie Fanny with Harvey Kurtzman, The Conan series by L. Sprague de Camp and Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Mr. Frazetta was a very talented person and was even drafted by the New York Giants to play baseball in 1947. However, he turned down the opportunity as his career as an artist had already begun. Frank was able to paint in many types of genres, however, his fantasy and science fiction paintings remain the most iconic and desirable of his works. He had a knack for creating very powerful and thought-provoking scenes featuring muscular men and beautiful women fighting strange beasts in exotic landscapes.