Tuesday, November 20, 2007

A Last Look at Frank Soltesz?

I sure hope not. If you've been following this blog for a while you'll already know that Frank Soltesz' work was incredibly well received by those who visited here back in March. In case you missed them, I've added all those previous posts to the drop down menu in the sidebar.


Recently I've heard from three of Frank Soltesz' grandchildren. One of them, Andy, writes about a truly unfortunate situation:

"My mother (Frank's daughter) had a tremendous collection of his work. Unfortunately, in the recent San Diego wildfires, all of this work has been lost. Since we were family, we did not purchase any of this work. We are looking for anyone who may have information regarding purchase price of his work, when the work was purchased, and a description of the work. Obviously, this is for insurance purposes. Do you have or know anyone who has this type of information?"


I wrote back to Andy suggesting that he contact The Illustration House and Graphic Collectibles, two of the biggest and most knowledgable dealers in original illustration art. If you have any other suggestions for the Soltesz family, I'm sure they would appreciate hearing from you. You can contact me via my email address in the profile section of this blog or leave a comment at the end of this post.

Soltesz' grandaughter, Tammy, left this comment:

"Some of my favorite work that he has done (in addition to his cutaways) is his series of Esso map covers and his Christmas card artwork. It is neat to know that his work is still appreciated and odd to think that people regard him as a man of mystery."


And another grandson, Scott, wrote:

"We still have several of his pieces though, and my sister and I are embarking on a project to digitally photograph what we have and catalog them for all to enjoy. He was unique in his style, and loved by many."

Today's pieces have been added to my Frank Soltesz Flickr set.

7 comments:

  1. Leif,
    That's horrible to hear about the loss of the art in the wildfires. These are such gems; I wonder how long tthe artist took to do them? They were probably knocked out pretty fast, but the drawing and all the rest is killer.
    regards,
    scott

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is so sad. The only saving grace is that many of his images will live on digitally.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow... I always think about how devastating loosing my artwork would be due to a natural disaster. Guess it proves you can't take it with you....

    Soltesz is great. I love the Michigan map. His figures seem flawless, the wrap arounds, points of tension, are all great. Especially on the guy in the forground.

    I'm new to this blog, but I love it already!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for your comments, guys - you echo my own feelings... what a tragedy. To think that some of those huge cut-aways might have still been around in original form - and are now burned up... very sad.

    This is the second case like this I've heard of this year: Dom Lupo, whom I showcased a couple of months ago, had the same thing happen to all his original art a few years ago - also in California, I believe.

    Its such a shame.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Leif- I am not tech saavy. I need to send you an email regarding "the rest of the story" about Margaret Nielsen Fleming. I am her daughter Dianne Fleming and would like to fill you in on past accomplishments and update you on her, as she is still living at 95. Someone gave me a link to your writeup about her commercial illustrations on Feb 10, 2012. (and her friend Jane Oliver). Please contact me at ugolite@aoldotcom (my personal email). I wished I had an email for you, or a PO box to send you some stuff. Her name is Margaret -not Mary.
    Thanks, Dianne Fleming artforms.com (my own site- showing a patented form of art) In NC.

    ReplyDelete