Sanjulián

Manuel Sanjulián (Barcelona, 1941). Original pencil sketch for the cover of "Hauntings" – Fawcett Books (United States) Original titled and signed on the back by the master illustrator SANJULIAN. An extraordinary original work by the international illustration master Manuel Sanjulián is presented, conceived as an original sketch for an editorial cover destined for the prestigious American publisher Fawcett Books. We are faced with one of those exceptionally scarce pieces that allow us to contemplate the instant in which an image is born before becoming a published cover. Very few originals retain that creative immediacy and that sense of a work in full gestation. Executed entirely in pencil on art paper, the composition features an enigmatic female figure of long proportions standing on a staircase that seems to lose itself in the distance while visually leading toward an old mansion wrapped in an unsettling atmosphere. The scene possesses an extraordinary narrative charge. The woman appears still, embracing herself in a gesture of vulnerability, as the wind stirs her hair and dress. In the background, the dark silhouette of the building emerges from shadows and mist, becoming the true psychological focus of the composition. With very few elements, Sanjulián manages to convey mystery, solitude, melancholy and dramatic tension, once again demonstrating his extraordinary ability to visually synthesize the plot of a novel. Far from resorting to spectacular resources, the artist builds all the atmosphere through absolute mastery of chiaroscuro, compositional balance and spatial depth. The staircase functions as a powerful symbolic resource, guiding the viewer’s gaze from the foreground to the construction of the background, while the female figure acts as the central axis of the entire scene. It is especially admirable to note how, solely through graphite, Sanjulián manages to suggest volume, movement, fog, distance and architecture with an absolutely masterful naturalness. An item of extraordinary documentary interest The reverse of the drawing bears a handwritten inscription made by the artist himself where he clearly identifies the editorial project: FAWCETT "HAUNTINGS" SANJULIAN accompanied also by the number 24, probably corresponding to internal control of the work or to the numbering of the editorial project. This type of autograph annotations holds enormous interest for specialized collectors, as they directly document the original destination of the illustration and its relationship to the editorial commission. The simultaneous presence of the title, the publisher and the artist’s name makes this drawing an item especially solid from a historical and documentary standpoint. Technique: Pencil on art paper. Measurements: 36 × 22 cm. Condition: Good general condition. The paper shows slight waviness and small marks typical of use during the creative process, common in editorial originals of this period, without affecting in any way the extraordinary artistic quality of the work. Manuel Sanjulián Manuel Pérez Clemente, internationally known as Sanjulián, was born in Barcelona in 1941 and is considered one of the most important European illustrators of the 20th century. From the early 1960s he developed an intense international career working for the leading American publishers, creating hundreds of covers for fantasy, science fiction, horror, adventure and historical fiction novels. He also achieved worldwide fame thanks to his unforgettable covers for the magazines Vampirella, Creepy and Eerie, published by Warren Publishing, which today are considered authentic icons of fantastic illustration. His mastery of anatomy, lighting, realism and visual storytelling has made his originals highly sought after by collectors worldwide. In recent decades, the growing international recognition of his career has notably increased interest in his preparatory drawings and original editorial works, regarded as unique testimonies of the creative process of one of the great masters of contemporary illustration. Valuation: This sketch possesses a quality that is often highly valued by collectors of original illustration: it functions as an autonomous work. Although it originated as an editorial project, its composition has enough aesthetic strength to be viewed as an independent artistic piece. Furthermore, being manually identified by Sanjulián for Fawcett Books, it brings together three elements that increase its interest: - Unique original, executed entirely in pencil. - Direct connection to a U.S. editorial commission. - Autograph identification on the back, with the project title and the publisher’s name.

估價:$308.15

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