Virgil Finlay, 1914-1971 (Gerry de la Ree)

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V10i9 Sep Virgil Finlay
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Narrated by j.m. wood

Virgil Finlay was the preeminent illustrator of pulp science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Beginning with Weird Tales, he created high-quality black and white illustrations for many pulp magazines as well as numerous color covers. He was self-taught and influenced by Pablo Picasso, Aubrey Beardsley, and Gustave Doré.

Born in 1914, Finlay was interested in illustration and poetry as a youth (although most of his poems weren’t published until after his death). In 1938, he married Beverly Stiles, whom he had known since childhood, and converted to Judaism.

Finlay created his illustrations with an ink pen using a stippling technique and scratchboard work. Finlay’s approach was unusual. He used lithographic pens to apply “dark lines, cross-hatching, and stippling in the light areas [and] tiny dots … to create delicate shading.” (Boskovich, Desirina: Lost Transmissions: The Secret History of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Abrams Image, 2019.) These techniques required considerable work (taking from eight hours to several days) and resulted in high-quality illustrations. Finlay’s work was similar in quality to the engraved illustrations of the 19th century, but the quality of the pulp paper on which they were reproduced could not do justice to his originals.

Illustrations by Virgil Finlay

Finlay first exhibited his art at age sixteen, and by the time he was twenty-one, he began submitting his work to the pulps, including Weird Tales. After Farnsworth Wright, the editor of Weird Tales, tested Finlay’s drawings to make sure they could be reproduced by the printing process used for the pulps, Wright began buying Finlay’s art regularly. Finlay’s  illustrations for three different stories appeared in December 1935, and from 1937 to 1953, Finlay created 19 color covers for Weird Tales. He also illustrated an edition of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Wright, but it failed to sell, and no additional volumes were published.

Back then, Finlay was only paid between eight and eleven dollars for interior black and white illustrations, and $100 for each color cover. When Weird Tales moved to New York and Margaret Brundage (who was based in Chicago) stopped producing covers, Finlay became the magazine’s leading illustrator and cover artist.

Finlay drew this classic portrait of Lovecraft for the April/May 1937 issue of Amateur Correspondent.

H.P. Lovecraft was a strong supporter of Virgil Finlay. Lovecraft wrote that he had “for many months been an enthusiastic Finlay fan.” In a 1936 fan letter, Lovecraft wrote to Farnsworth Wright requesting correspondence with Virgil Finlay, so that he could have Finlay illustrate some of his stories. Finlay eventually created several famous illustrations for Lovecraft's stories, including depictions for The Colour Out of Space and At the Mountains of Madness.  Lovecraft continued corresponding with Finlay, giving him the nickname “Monstro, Baron of Kohl.” (Moskowitz, Sam and Gerry de la Ree: Virgil Finlay, Donald M. Grant, 1971.) In this way, Finlay became part of the Lovecraft circle that included Clarke Ashton Smith, August Derleth, and Robert E. Howard.

By the mid-1930s, Finlay’s illustrations were appearing in many other pulps, including Fantastic Story Quarterly, Galaxy, Amazing Stories, and Magazine of Horror. During this time, he had become a major contributor to The American Weekly, and in 1935, he was hired as a staff artist. He also dominated the covers and interior illustrations of the pulp Famous Fantastic Mystery throughout its life.

Weird Tales covers by Virgil Finlay

In addition to his work for the pulps, Finlay created the jacket illustrations for several of Arkham House’s hardback books, including Arkham’s first publication in 1939, Lovecraft’s The Outsider and Others. By then, Finlay was recognized as one of the premier illustrators of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, a position he maintained throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

He was even named Best Fantasy Artist in the Beowulf Poll in 1941 and 1945, and Best Fantasy Illustrator by Fantasy Annual in 1948. During his career, Finlay produced more than 2800 unique works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror art. (Moskowitz, 1971)

Finlay’s masterful work is an important influence on many of today’s illustrators. But outside of the spheres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror pulps and digests, he remains largely unknown. Fortunately for collectors, Finlay’s originals are some of the most accessible today.

Art by Virgil Finlay

Steven Woolfolk is the owner of Xenophile Bibliopole & Armorer, Chronopolis, a rare books specialty bookstore in Richland, online at Xenophilebooks.com.

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