Frazetta's Ape Man!

As much as I adore Frazetta's work on Conan the Barbarian, it's this rendering of Tarzan of the Apes which is my favorite all-time Frazetta painting.

When I consider what I like about it, there's the usual stuff, like the tone and the textures and the romantic high adventure lushness of the setting. But most of all, this painting more than any I can think of from Frazetta, and more than any Tarzan image I can remember draws you into the Ape man's world.


We are seeing the world from Tarzan's point of view here almost, we see the vista and we hang from the cliff. Almost anytime an artist draws someone from behind, the audience is being asked to see what the character sees, and this one is no exception. There's the hidden land before us, the mystery beckoning.


Tarzan will explore, and we get to explore with him. That's the magic that was Burroughs whether the mystery was in the depths of the African jungle or the sands of Barsoom. We go there; it's that simple.


This painting points the way.



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