Richard M. Powers

Richard M. Powers (February 24, 1921 – March 9, 1996) was a science fiction illustrator.

Life and work

Born in Chicago 1921 into a Catholic family, Richard Michael Gorman Powers spent most of his early life supported by his mother and aunt. His father left the family when Powers was young. At eleven, Powers was introduced to art when his uncle gave him a sketch book, although in later life his uncle's wife would try to prevent from making any art. He became one of the most influential science fiction artists of all time.

He began by working in a conventional pulp paperback style, but quickly evolved a personal Surrealist idiom influenced by the cubists and surrealists, especially Picasso and Yves Tanguy. He also dabbled in abstract art and collage at a later age before dying in 1996 at the age of 75.

From the 1940s through the 1960s, he did many of covers for Doubleday. During the 1950s and 1960s, he served as an unofficial art director for Ballantine Books.

He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle on June 21, 2008.

The estate of Richard Powers, which includes original artwork, is represented by Worlds of Wonder.

Cultural influence

In 2010, Andy Partridge, former frontman of the British New wave band XTC released a limited edition CD of music inspired by Powers' art titled POWERS.

Collections

• Spacetimewarp: Paintings (1983) (Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club)

Illustrated books

Powers provided interior illustrations for a number of Easton Press special editions of classic science fiction novels, including a 1986 edition of The Gods Themselves.

• American Tall Tales, Adrien Stoutenburg, interior illustrations (Puffin, 1976) ISBN 978-0-14-030928-7
• The Number of the Beast (1980), interior artwork and cover illustrations, first edition

Album covers

• Symphonie Fantastique Hector Berlioz, Charles Munch, conductor, Boston Symphony Orchestra. RCA Victor, 1955

Partial list of book covers

• The Long Loud Silence (1952)
• Tomorrow, the Stars (1952)
• Childhood's End (1953)
• More Than Human (1953)
• Expedition to Earth (1953)
• Ahead of Time (1953)
• Star Science Fiction Stories No.1 (1953)
• Citizen in Space (1955)
• Who Goes There? and Other Stories (1955)
• The Human Angle (1956)
• Reach for Tomorrow (1956)
• Robots and Changelings (1957)
• Starburst (1958)
• On an Odd Note (1958)
• Man of Earth (1958)
• Wolfbane (1959)
• Far Rainbow (1963)
• Greybeard, (1964)
• The Invincible (1964)
• The Second Invasion from Mars (1968)
• The Daleth Effect (1970)
• Vermilion Sands (1971)
• The Fabulous Riverboat (1971)
• Roadside Picnic (1977)
• Firing the Cathedral (2002)

References

• Frank, Jane; "The Art of Richard Powers", London : Paper Tiger, 2001. ISBN 1-85585-890-8
• The Frank Collection: A Showcase of the World's Finest Fantastic Art, Jane and Howard Frank. Paper Tiger, 1999

External links

• Dave Hartwell's account of Richard M. Powers
• A large collection of Richard M. Powers' published artwork: The Powers Compendium
• Richard Powers at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database