Hugh Rankin

[dem]

The first major artist to work for Weird Tales was Hugh Rankin (1878-1956). He joined the art staff in the middle twenties and did work for the magazine for nearly ten years. A majority of Rankin's work was done on textured board by a grease pencil. Rankin used soft pencil shading which gave his pictures a strange, misty look that created a fine weird effect .... Rankin was everything a fantasy fan could want in an artist. He was capable of drawing weird monsters with skill and he did not shirk from portraying the most gruesome of such creatures. He usually took a dramatic scene to illustrate. His people were reasonably believable and his women attractive. Rankin enjoyed drawing nudes and he did them well."

- Robert Weinberg, The Weird Tales Story, Fax 1977.

There are several examples of Hugh Rankin's interior and cover artwork scattered across this board, and much, much more elsewhere. Mr. Weinberg notes that the rush to run off the new issue could and often did destroy Hugh's deft illustrations ("they reproduced so poorly they were just masses of grey"). Fortunately for us, this wasn't always the case.

Here's a sampler (more to follow).

Seabury Quinn - The Children Of Ubasti (Weird Tales, Dec. 1929)

H. P. Lovecraft - The Call Of Cthulhu (Weird Tales, Feb. 1928)

Theda Kenyon - The House Of The Golden Eyes (Weird Tales, Sept. 1930)

Hal K. Wells - The Daughter Of Isis (Weird Tales, Feb. 1930)

E. Hoffman Price - Tarbis Of The Lake (Weird Tales, Feb. 1934)

Captain S. P. Meek - The Curse of the Valedi (Weird Tales, July 1935)

E. Hoffman Price - A Jest And A Vengeance (Weird Tales, Sept. 1929)

Henry S. Whitehead - The Lips (Weird Tales, Sept. 1929)

Oscar Cook - Piecemeal (Weird Tales, Feb. 1930).

Seabury Quinn - The Chapel Of Mystic Horror (Weird Tales, Sept. 1928)

[dem]

Hugh Rankin under his own name ....

Seabury Quinn - The Black Master (Weird Tales, Jan. 1929).

.... Hugh Rankin as DOAK

.... Rankin later did some bold stroke artwork, signing these illustrations DOAK to keep them separate from his grease pencil pictures. (Robert Weinberg).

The DOAK stuff is crazy. Maybe it's just me, but these illustrations give the impression that Hugh was demonically possessed by the twin spirits of the "gnomic" C. C. Senf and G. O. Olinick when he drew them. Which, in case you are a newcomer to Vault, is praise indeed.

Harold Markham - In A Dead Man's Shoes (Weird Tales, Apr. 1929).

Lieutenant Edgar Gardiner - The Net Of Shamlegh (Weird Tales, Jan. 1930).

Ainslee Jenkins [Desmond W. Hall] - Men Of Steel (Weird Tales, Dec. 1930).

Harold Markham - The Falling Knife (Weird Tales, Feb. 1930).

E. F. Benson - The Hanging Of Alfred Wadham (Weird Tales, Aug. 1929).

[dem]

Robert E. Howard - The People Of The Black Circle (Weird Tales, Sept. 1934).

Clark Ashton Smith - The End Of The Story (Weird Tales, May 1930)

Robert C. Sandison - Burnt Things (Weird Tales, Dec. 1930).

Bassett Morgan - Bimini (Weird Tales, Jan. 1929).

Robert E. Howard - The Skulls In The Stars (Weird Tales, Jan. 1929).

Gordon Philip England - White Orchids (Weird Tales, Dec. 1927)

Joel Martin Nichols, jnr. - The Isle of Lost Souls (Weird Tales, Dec. 1927)

Robert E. Howard - Shadows In The Moonlight (Weird Tales, April 1934).

[andydecker]

Thanks for those pictures, dem!

I am a fan of the artwork of the time, but this work is a bit, what is the correct expression? Hazy? Rudimentary? Too dreamlike? Sometimes it works well, like for Call of Cthulhu, but for the Howard stories I am not so sure.

[dem]

Jan 24, 2017 12:38:34 GMT andydecker said:

Thanks for those pictures, dem!

I am a fan of the artwork of the time, but this work is a bit, what is the correct expression? Hazy? Rudimentary? Too dreamlike? Sometimes it works well, like for Call of Cthulhu, but for the Howard stories I am not so sure.

I prefer his depictions of Conan to those of Margaret Brundage. For all her talent with female nudes, she never quite nailed the half-naked Barbarian. Have a few more of Rankin's Lovecraft illustrations to scan when time permits. Robert Weinberg particularly rated his work for The Dunwich Horror and it's not difficult to see why.

[andydecker]

I am with you on Brundage. Her Conan looks ridiculous.

[Michael Connolly]

Jan 24, 2017 22:21:31 GMT andydecker said:

I am with you on Brundage. Her Conan looks ridiculous.

He's too modern-looking.

[𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr]

This is Rankin using Quindaro. Weird Tales v15 n04 [1930-04]
From a cursory browse he did both the cover and possibly all the interior illustrations. Maybe that's why he used pen names, and switched styles.

His aunt was named Louie Quindaro (Rankin) Hermes.