Drew Struzan: Oeuvre [Rilegato]

First of all, I'm second to none in my admiration for Mr. Struzan's work, all of which garners five stars. This book, however has a number of problems ( and reviewers have given it 5 stars w/out even seeing it!)
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde; it's worse than bad, it's half good. What a missed opportunity! Despite its size and promise, this is not a career retrospective. Although there are a number of anecdotal stories of Drew's early years, there is very little early work. We're told of his many album covers, but shown only the much reproduced Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper art. There is very little here a long-time fan hasn't seen before. ( For those of you contemplating Running Press' "Movie Posters of.. " book, 91 of the 97 pieces in that book are here as well. Frankly, it's a better book. At least you can read the title of the art on the same page.)
The lack of any type of information or credits on the work is extremely frustrating. We're told virtually NOTHING about the work. Pieces possibly done as prints or other than movie one sheets are credited only as "c. 2000 Drew Struzan". What were they done for? How were they done? Some of the more experimental pieces seem to be in oil, rather than Struzan's airbrush and prismacolor style; NO information,not even a simple " 27 x 41 in., acrylic on board" is provided. There are no thumbnails, reference or preliminaries shown; no actual size details. Sequential images of a work in progress? Not here. The Superman poster done for the Thought Factory is a different image here, done in the Leyendecker oil style, rather than the airbrush piece printed. No explanation. No comparison. Just look at the art- what, you want to learn from a book?
OK, so what does the book provide? The production is problematic. The writing is printed in gray, not black, it's lighter on some pages than on others, and the page numbers are printed both in gray AND tiny, making them almost impossible to read. You'll need those page numbers; you need to flip to the rear section to find the list providing the titles and copyrights (again, no other info) of every painting. I know those Star Trek covers I like were comic books because I know Wildstorm is a comic book co.; if I didn't, I wouldn't. Like that Star Wars piece you've never seen before? It's copyright Lucasfilm , of course, so whether it was done for a book cover, video game, fan club magazine or comic book is anyone's guess; unless you know already you're out of luck in terms of finding it in its original incarnation.
The book comes with three 3-page foldouts, another production problem, another questionable result. Two of them in my copy were slit halfway down the fold; I had to exchange it, for which I rec'd a second damaged copy. More on that later. Except for the Star Wars Special Edition triptych, wherein all 3 posters have a common background, the foldouts are wasted. The other 2 are used to see the 3 "Back to the Future" and "Indiana Jones " posters side by side. (The initial -and re-release- domestic "Raiders" poster was done by Amsel, and the 2nd too was by another artist; the 3 Drew posters are not linked compositionally.)Considering the cost they undoubtedly added to the book, they ( at least the two right-side pgs.)could have been put to better use showing a horizontal work , such as the "Lost World" art on p.44-45 or the "Star Wars Roleplaying Game 2000" on p. 140-141, both of which are instead spread across the gutter of the book, a wide 3/4 inch split running down the center of each image. Most of the 2 page spreads are broken up in this manner, though a few have a smooth transition.
So, is the book worth it? To an artist and collector who waited a year and a half for it, it's a disappointment, though a nice set of plates to show your family and friends who Drew is and why you like him so much. The problem seems to be getting a good copy .I rec'd 2 damaged copies, Amazon wouldn't let me exchange a 2nd time so I took the refund; I MIGHT try again in a few months. But I'll be reading other reviews; look at the "used and new" section on the page listing; you'll see multiple " "fulfillment by Amazon. Never read copy" 's at cheap prices with "large wrinkle or bend on DJ" or "multiple folds and tears" listed. Can you say, "return"? This publisher doesn't inspire confidence. That "Howard Pyle, His Life and Art " is coming out soon;a big ticket item, a more important artist; maybe we should save our $$ for that, you know? CAVEAT EMPTOR.

(This review is updated to reflect some comments made by the publisher in the comments section.)

This is the updated edition of the 2004 edition Drew Struzan: Oeuvre. The publisher Titan Books considers it a brand new edition, with lots of additional and up-to-date material, plus text by Dylan Struzan - Drew's wife. It is described as 'a sumptuous companion volume to The Art of Drew Struzan'.

So what's the difference between this book vs The Art of Drew Struzan and The Movie Posters of Drew Struzan?

The Movie Posters of Drew Struzan is a 120-page hardcover selection of movie posters up to 2004. The Art of Drew Struzan is the 160-page hardcover selection of works featuring lots of accompanying sketches together with his finished drawings, complete with commentary on his thoughts and stories behind each piece. Oeuvre is collection of works representing his career, up to 2010.

Much of what you see here is duplicated in The Movie Posters of Drew Struzan so there's no point getting that book, especially when the price different is small. Even though there is duplication in The Art of Drew Struzan as well, that book is still worth getting because of his sketches and if you want to read about his creative process.

Alright, back to Oeuvre.

Drew Struzan's art is beautiful, possibly unparalleled. You already know that.

The amount of work he created is immense and this book is a tribute to his mastery. It's a 314-page large format hardcover with illustrations all printed at full page on good paper. You're getting close to 300 illustrations. This is an amazing value for money.

His familiar works for movie posters are all inside, arranged into the type of work namely, music, movies, commercial and personal. The bulk of work appears in the movie section, of course. You'll get the see familiar works he did for Star Wars, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, and many of the lesser known ones. His portfolio is awe-inspiring.

For this 2011 reprint edition, Some of the new works included, those after 2004, are Cowboys and Aliens, Pan's Labyrinth, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, Hellboy II, The Walking Dead. Some of this have appeared in The Art of Drew Struzan but included here to make this collection complete. So if you actually have the The Art of Drew Struzan and the 2004 Oeuvre, there's no need to get this edition because you already have all the art.

The personal pieces included are some figure drawings and paintings that are done in a non-Drew Struzan style, compared to his movie art, or course.

The captions for the illustrations appear at the back of the book, arranged by page order, describing the medium and what the art was for. I wish there was another index listing his work alphabetically because sometimes it hard to find a particular title from those 300 plus pages. The alphabetically arranged copyright index at the end could do with those page numbers.

Oeuvre is the definite collection of Drew Struzan. If you have to get just one, this is it.

Most highly recommended. One of the best art books for 2011.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

"Finally," because as the previous reviewer announced, this book is actually in stores although apparently very few and far between. One copy was in a comic book store down the street from me on the 22nd of Dec. and nearly a week later it is still there as I have ordered it from Amazon and am not going to pay full price at the store and end up with two. "Not quite," because although it is in a store or two Amazon still says it will be a month or three before it is sent out to those of us who ordered it months ago. Why? What's going on?

As for the book itself, it is larger than average although not one of those 15 pound coffee table books that pop up now and then. I am not quite as excited about it as a previous writer as many of the reproductions are slightly on the thin side, lacking the contrast and rich colors that one finds in the earlier book, "The Movie Posters of Drew Struzan," and I found this disappointing. The posters of "Sahara" are a good example of the differences.

Of course being over 300 pages long there is a vastly larger amount of material which is great; portraits of movie stars both new and old as well as tons of material that most of us have never seen at all, along with many of his personal works. Wonderful. There are, I think, 3 or 4 foldout pages, containing a series of Star Wars or Raiders posters. Oddly enough the one almost mural like piece presenting a history of movies which would have made a wonderful foldout was not presented as such but occupies just two facing pages. Later in the book there are some blank pages which could certainly have been put to better use. There are a few pages of text at the front of the book but that also could have been better presented as the type is a medium grey and more difficult to read than straight black and white would have been. Also, it would have been nice to have had at least one example of Struzan's working proceedures, a few progressive stages of a painting which would show his techniques, but alas, nothing of the kind was included.

Nonetheless, in spite of all my carping and complaints, it does seem to be a very worthwhile book with much to offer and I anxiously await the arrival of my copy, hoping that it will arrive before Summer.