If it weren't for your video, I would never have heard of Fortunino Matania. I thought I was fairly well informed about 20th century illustrators. I have much to learn. Thank you for the education.
Thanks for the comment, and it's always a pleasure to know I've introduced viewers to a particular illustrator for the first time. If it's any consolation I only discovered him about 7 or 8 years ago.
A great artist. I may be wrong, but I can appreciate Matania's influence in some 20th century US illustrators, golden age ones, and more... An artist to recover and to study in detail. Thank you for this amazing video.
Many thanks for your comment, and it's pleasing to know that viewers such as yourself appreciate the remarkable work of Matania. He should be much better known.
Another EXCELLENT documentary, Pete, and of an artist that I MUST admire for his mastery of realist representation, and the scales of tone in his monochrome work. From great composition down to the finest texture and detail, Matania shows us how to SEE.
You'll get no argument from me on that score. As I said in the video I'm more inclined to less representational illustration but the apparently limitless nature of his skill and talent leaves me breathless.
@@petebeard "...but the apparently limitless nature of his skill and talent leaves me breathless." His work had the same effect on me. Thank you so much for the splendid presentation.
Well done, per normal. You deserve recognition for bringing all of these past greats back to the forefront and letting new generations be exposed to it all. Thank you.
What an incredible body of fine work! Those complex scenes staged and rendered with a nearly-inconceivable realism are mind-blowing. Wonderful! Thank you for profiling this great artist.
Thanks for the video, Pete. Matania was a remarkable accomplished artist with the ability to turn his talent to anything he did. And as someone who appreciates monochrome I have to say how much I admire his tonal scales.
What a fantastic artist. I believe that when an artist is this good, they transcend onto a magical and incredible plane. Norman Rockwell, one of my favourites, is another such example. Thank you for another wonderful video.
Staggering works. Especially the WW1 paintings. I don't know if Matania is credited as an official War Artist, but he should be. The Coronation paintings are also impressive. Matania demonstrates a great skill with crowd scenes, something not every illustrator is comfortable with. In this respect he reminds me of Russian painters of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, such as Ilya Repin and Konstantin Savitsky, who created large canvases flooded with people. There's a place for realist painters like Matania, even today, particularly for historical interpretations; they take us there, be it eighty years ago or 800, or 8,000 or eight million - well, you get the idea! I have a particular love for dinosaur paintings, as naturalistic and as accurate as is feasible. Sometimes, miniscule detail helps to transport the viewer into the time and place presented. Another gem of a video, Pete, thank you! 👍
Many thanks for another metaphotical and literal thumbs up. I dont know for sure but I imagine Matania must have been officially recognised for the war work - he was doing most of it on behalf of the ministry of propaganda.I finally realised why I like his work so much, and you spell it out in your comment. He painted images of the ancient world that bring it to life for us, just as you say about paleo-illustration.Some of that is in the pipeline too.
Wow, what an amazing talent he was. In his art, he was a fearless champion of human life both real and imagined! I have to ask myself, given the age and the plethora of supremely talented artists such as Matania (and Parrish comes also to mind). was this Golden Age of Illustration also the apex of western illustrative art? Are we looking at an artistic wildfire that burned itself out or has the demand for this kind of art simply faded away?
Many thanks for your comment and appreciation of this video. There are many who do think that the Golden Age was precisely that, and in a sense it was certainly never to be repeated. But my own opinion is somewhat different. I believe the work that came later was every bit as vital and visually engrossing, even if not as technically demanding. It's a bit like the difference between classical music and jazz in my mind. And there is still some great painted illustration out there but we generally don't get to see it so much.
As you say Matania was a genius. And yet without your channel I would never of heard of him. So, thank you again for bringing such forgotten artists to the attention of your subscribers. Another fantastic episode, thanks Pete.
That he enjoyed that subject matter wasn't the surprise - it was that the puritanical British censors allowed it to be printed. Many thanks for your comment and appreciation.
No other word for it GENIUS. The figure work is remarkable. I shall be looking through this video again, remarkable skill and art. Thank you Pete for bringing Fortunino to our attention.
I have just come across a 1932 Pathe short silent film of him at work. It's a great view of his methods and he seemed to have a good relationship with his models. Thank you so much for this video - without your inclusion of him in unsung heroes I wouldn't have known to click on the video!
Thanks a lot for the information, and I've now added the link to this video in the description box of my Matania video. Very informative to see him at work.
How did l not know about this amazing artist! Maybe being from th United States. So glad to know about his spectacular Tala t and imagination. Thanks for educating me. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Hello and many thanks for your appreciative comment. Matania didn't make much impact in the USA, although he was occasionally published in American magazines. I'm very glad to have introduced you to his incredible body of work.
Another 5 star production on one of the greatest non book illustrators of the Golden Age. I ran across his work while researching some ILN and other magazines, and couldn't believe they weren't photographs. By the way, a video on all the ERB artists would also make a good subject. The Salome at the 14 minute mark is one of the best I have ever seen, and the Morgan le Fay stealing Excalibur at the 15 minute mark is by far the best. I would love to have a framable copy for my Arthurian lore collection. Thanks again Pete.
Hi Albert and I thought this one would be to your liking. Thanksd a lot for the comment. But I have to confess that I have no idea what ILN or ERB stand for. Care to educate me?
Wow! Had to refocus my brain to see some of those images as drawings and not photos. Mind blowing to think he was churning them out on a weekly basis. Thanks as always for bringing to our attention via such lovely videos. 👍
Thank you for introducing us to this artist! I have never heard his name before, but his work seems so familiar. Some of the commentators praise his wartime work and the photo-realistic execution of his illustrations....and they are spot-on !!! Also, this illustrator is truly a master of depth and light - we loved it! And once more my wife and I would like to compliment you on your graphic additions (always the right fonts!) and background music. You make every video a delightfull watch!!
Many thanks from Matania and me for your appreciation and ongoing support. It continues to make my day to know that some viewers really enjoy the content.
WOW! A Great talent and a fast worker. Artists who have not done illustration work don't understand the tight deadlines of commercial images, especially for editorial pieces. Back then, you had to prepare the designs, get reference, present sketches for approval and then paint quickly. With multiple figures and difficult subject matter, he must have worked day and night to turn in the work on time. Looks like Fortunino worked in watercolor, and or gouache. His drawing is excellent and quality is consistent. Thanks for the video!
Thanks a lot for your comment, and it's something I wholeheartedly agree with. It's one of the reasons I believe illustration to be far more demanding than fine art, where you can create what you like when you like. I started out in the early 1970s and it was just as you describe for Matania.
Thanks as ever. But I have to say his depictions of Blackpool and Southport don't tally with my own far less glamorous memories from family holidays in the 50s.
This kind of illustration seen in old books very likely fires the imagination if small children and makes them want to read the story/book they appear in. Am I generalizing? Possibly, but the realism is what one can relate to at a very young age, understanding exaggeration and the odd and bizarre comes later. I think this artist is outstanding in depicting mood, situation, atmosphere and feelings in stark realism. Thank you, once more, for showing another fascinating video
Many thanks for another favourable response. And your speculation about the very nature of realism in illustration and how humans, both big and lttle, respond to them is the stuff of long animated discussion over a bottle of wine or two. This platform is too limited in that regard.
Bravo, another masterpiece of Pete's narrative with a less-known illustrator's work - Matania was clearly a prodigious talent of speed and incredible skill who actually lived the dream of being a prosperous artist and he's certainly worthy of your high praise of being the greatest representational illustrator of the UK in the 20th century - I had to pause the video and look closely to believe that all those images were drawings, holy cow they're amazing, though I rather prefer his fantasy/Orientalist style more than his grim war reportage ;) Thanks for your lucid and well-chosen words and for your discerning eye yet again, Pete.
Many thanks for your comment about this video and appreciation of Matania's work, my efforts in collecting and presenting it, and hopefully it will win some new admirers of his illustrations.
when I was a kid, I found a few pages of his World War 1 book in a town dump along with other treasures that a 12-year-olds love. 70 years later I still have them tucked away some were. there so incredibly well executed.
The illustration of the soldier with the dying horse 'Goodbye, old man', was one of the first artworks to make an impression on me, when I was little and saw it in some magazine. It's very moving, and sums up the tragedy of the war.
I've long admired Matania's work and am grateful to you for the information of his life and career that I had not known before. As far as I was able to observe from a few originals on sale at Heritage Auctions, his originals were amazing small, usually no more than about 10x16 inches! Just amazing given the amount of detail in the images, working so small may have accounted somewhat for his prolific production.
Thanks a lot for your comment and appreciation. One of my most used sites is mutualart, and they have a lot of Matania originals too. Some of the monochromes were quite small but there's a reasonable contingent of bigger painted works in colour too. I get the impression that he generally worked at 50% more than printed size, though.
I’m particularly stunned by his black and white work. It’s so brilliant that it loses nothing by not having colour. Although the image you showed that was basically black and white with touches of subtle colour was very appealing.
Hello again, and I must say I've made many a complaint in videos when reviewing muddy grey halftones, but as you point out Matania's are nothing short of incredible, and really jump off the page.
You can see how, in the midst of all the different mouvements and revolutions that happened in the pictorial art during his time, someone as figurative as Matania could be overlooked. But his use of light and composition really are masterfull. Thx again for the vid sir ;)
Thanks as always for your appreciation. I must say it baffles me that someone this talented and highly successful should be so overlooked. This would never have happened had he been American.
have been following your work since it began, but this one was particularly good (as the artist was new to me). The lingering over the final images without comment (but none needed!) - thank you.
Firstly, thanks a lot for your longterm dedication to the channel. And secondly my thanks also for your appreciation of this video. I'm glad to have introduced you to his incredible work.
Incredible detail & his usage of opaque white was creative & clever & the black ink probably made the white look whiter. He was one lucky guy who had a parent guide him into a lifetime career in a field not easy to get into. He took to it like a duck to water & it served him well
I thought for a minute you had forgotten the stars but I should have known better - they came seperately. And thanks for your appreciation of this video and Matania's illustrations.
Magnificent presentation, Pete Beard. Fortunino Matania's productivity is prodigious! How on earth do artists create so much in one lifetime? I'm looking for artists to present as a volunteer with Arts Explora and I'm indebted to you for this introduction.
Hello again, and many thanks for your appreciation of this video and Matania's work. I'm happy to have introduced you to his mavellous body of illustration and art.
Wow. His Titanic and war scenes are truly amazing. It is really good to remind folks that before cameras, most people could draw (at the least in a basic way) because it was the only option. I wonder if any of the soldiers showed him their own drawings. Oh! The Burroughs ones are also really good! And somehow he managed not to be racist. The ‘other’ here looks European/neanderthal. Thank you, again!
Thanks a lot. Unfortunately if you mean more by Matania I used just about every image I could lay my hands on just making this video, and the proverbial well is dry.
Beautifully crafted work to be sure, but my ears pricked up at the mention of the "Look & Learn" magazine; a blazing creative spark in my very early years, thanks to a chunky but non-sequential collection in my Primary School's library - what a treat!
Sadly, most of the images he created for Look and Learn, and those by others, are all watermarked so nobody can use them. I was lucky to find any to show.
As a child in the 1970s I read the educational magazine, 'Look and Learn', for several years. I was reminded of this publication by the thumbnail for this episode and was, therefore, interested to hear that, in his later years, Matania himself produced some colour illustrations for the magazine in the early 1960s. I wonder whether some of these might later have been re-used, allowing me to see them some ten years later? Many thanks for all your enjoyable and informative films!
Thanks a lot for your appreciation, and the answer is yes, they carried on printing his illustrations long after he died. I wonder who got the royalties...
Extraordinary output. And all those crowd scenes. I find that once you get the momentum going on a few projects, it makes it easier. Not easy, but easier. So all I have to do is draw New Year's at Times Square twenty times in a row...
Thanks a lot for your comment and appreciation. I've created a few crowd scenes in my time but they were all cartoons, and they were tough enough to persuade me not to attempt any more. How on earth you create such realism is completely beyond me.
Thank you Pete! - Matania was truly prolific AND stuck to his guns in 6 decades of changes in artistic styles and 'isms'. Did he do any pulp magazines/novels illustrations? Guess he was a naturalized citizen of Britain early on, and didn't face any repercussions during WWII with Italy being part of the Axis powers?
Thanks for your appreciation. And as far as I know he didn;t do any pulp work, or for that matter anything directly for the American market. And no novels either. And your guess about his status in WW2 is correct.
Thank you Pete for this presentation. It’s amazing how many people are drawn in just one of Matania’s paintings. It seems to me like you’ve hired a new graphic designer to put your presentation together for this video. I’ve seen a big improvement over previous TH-cam videos. (If that is true, Hats off to him or her) frank
Thanks as usual for your comments. And I must admit it's flattering you think I have people working for me. I'm a one man band in my back bedroom with a computer, and if the presentations have got better in quality that's down to practice.
@@petebeard the reason I mentioned that the way I did, as when I used to make letter spacing suggestions, I think at one point you mentioned that you handed your presentations over to somebody who takes care of that. But maybe I misunderstood. Frank
Fortunino Matania also made illustrations for knapp Drewett the Company that published all the Great Central Railway companys publicity booklets and posters before the First World War. The book Per Rail produced to promote Goods traffic on the the Great Central has drawings, illustrated maps, and a colour print of Immingham docks. I find his pictures always worth a closer look to see all that is happening. to me he often catches as much activity in a picture as a short film clip and still manages to make avoid making things look too busy.
His attention to great detail (esp with large crowds!) is amazing! Much of his loose pencil work reminds me of Andrew Loomis. Some like Leyendecker? And such at such an early age and speed! I think I paused at almost every shot. Thank you, Sir! What software are you using for these?
Hello again and as ever your appreciation is always welcome. Regarding softwre it's a combined little group of programs. I use affinity photo (far cheaper than photoshop) to edit, enhance and frame the images, and as I work on a mac I use garageband to record the narration and lay the music track. Ultimately the images and soundtrack are imported into imovie (like garageband it comes free with the mac) and then I spend days editing, re-recording and re-assembling all elements until finally it makes some sort of sense.
The voice is my own, although I owe a certain debt to half a century of tobacco abuse. So is somebody using me to make fake voices?I have no idea what ig might be.
Excellent work. Most educational. I reckon his most famous image is that one with the dancer and the daggers!! Any chance you could point me to a video about the history of some the Illustrated magazines of the era, such as Sphere, and how popular they were at the time?
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. And I'm sorry but I doubt that such a video exists. I've looked as deeply as I can get on the internet trying to find archives of British magazines of that period but there is remarkably little to be had.
@@petebeard - Your videos have really opened my eyes to the treasure troves of art that those illustrated magazines were. As TH-cam develops, we are starting to see more and more deep dives on relatively forgotten forms of media. I have seen Paul Merton make docus about Silent Movies and Alexander Armstrong did one about Boys Own Comics. I will keep my fingers crossed!
I've admired Matania's work for decades thanks to the Dover reprint of the two Burroughs Venus books! And not only Venus he also produced at least one color painting for A Princess of Mars (a bare breasted Dejah Thoris being dragged away by two Thark woman also bare breasted...just as Burroughs described!)...What an incredible talent and fortunately having a long career!!
Will you be doing T.S. Sullivant particularly on his legacy, and influences like with Animators artist like Milt Khal, Chris Sanders (Creator of Lilo and Stitch), and Peter De Seve (Best known for his work on the Ice Age films).
I did cover Sullivant's work - admittedly only briefly - in unsung heroes 28. And as with Matania and others who appeared in that series he's waiting in line for his own video. But I don't deal in legacy and long term influence, and leave that for others to speculate about.
Makes you feel that if a camera -- in the hands of a supremely gifted (and lucky!) photographer -- had been at many of these events, what was recorded would not be very dissimilar to Mattania's paintings. I saw Queen Elizabeth's coronation myself, on a dinky little B&W tv -- mostly at my mother's insistence that "this was important", although why it was I had no idea then, or even now!
Thanks for your comment and appreciation of Matania's incredible talent. I was three years old when we got our new queen. It took me aback to realise I've lived through three different monarchs, and given Charles' late ascension it may well end up being four.
@@petebeard In the last words of Egypt's King Farouk, "Soon there will be only 5 kings left -- the kings of England, Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds."
This is an artist I can confidently say, I will study for many year to come along side the likes of Repin. Thank you for the introduction. I am shocked this is the first I'm hearing of this artist
Thanks a lot for your appreciation of Matania's work, and my efforts with the channel. Many thanks for the subscription too - I need as many as I can get.
(222) BREATHTAKING. Almost photo-realist imagery. You have outdone yourself with this upload, Mr. Beard.
Thanks a lot for your response to Matania's incredible work. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
Here is another illustrator whose work I was previously unaware of. Thank you for rectifying that shortcoming, Pete.
Again, I'm very glad to have made the introduction. Thanks for your appreciation.
What an absolute extraordinary talent! Thank you so much for sharing his work with us!
Thanks as always for your appreciation.
Gracias MY LORD, es ud. Grande...felicidades❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
If it weren't for your video, I would never have heard of Fortunino Matania. I thought I was fairly well informed about 20th century illustrators. I have much to learn. Thank you for the education.
Thanks for the comment, and it's always a pleasure to know I've introduced viewers to a particular illustrator for the first time. If it's any consolation I only discovered him about 7 or 8 years ago.
Terrific piece on a wonderful artist.
Thanks for your appreciation from me and Matania.
What fantastically gorgeous illustrations and paintings! A true genius.
Thanks for the comment and I'm pleased that his work seems to have impressed you considerably.
A great artist. I may be wrong, but I can appreciate Matania's influence in some 20th century US illustrators, golden age ones, and more...
An artist to recover and to study in detail. Thank you for this amazing video.
Many thanks for your comment, and it's pleasing to know that viewers such as yourself appreciate the remarkable work of Matania. He should be much better known.
What an extraordinary artist! And absolutely priceless recording of historical events. He gives us far more than any photographic record.
Thanks as usual and I'm glad his work seems to have left a lasting impression on you.
Another EXCELLENT documentary, Pete, and of an artist that I MUST admire for his mastery of realist representation, and the scales of tone in his monochrome work. From great composition down to the finest texture and detail, Matania shows us how to SEE.
You'll get no argument from me on that score. As I said in the video I'm more inclined to less representational illustration but the apparently limitless nature of his skill and talent leaves me breathless.
@@petebeard "...but the apparently limitless nature of his skill and talent leaves me breathless."
His work had the same effect on me. Thank you so much for the splendid presentation.
Well done, per normal. You deserve recognition for bringing all of these past greats back to the forefront and letting new generations be exposed to it all. Thank you.
Thanks for another flattering comment - I'm glad you enjoyed Matania's work.
What an incredible body of fine work! Those complex scenes staged and rendered with a nearly-inconceivable realism are mind-blowing. Wonderful! Thank you for profiling this great artist.
Your apprecciation is very welcome, and Im glad you admire Matania's colossal talent.
Thanks for the video, Pete. Matania was a remarkable accomplished artist with the ability to turn his talent to anything he did. And as someone who appreciates monochrome I have to say how much I admire his tonal scales.
Thanks as usual, and I can't think of another who handled tonal monochrome with such definition. Quite remarkable.
What a fantastic artist. I believe that when an artist is this good, they transcend onto a magical and incredible plane. Norman Rockwell, one of my favourites, is another such example. Thank you for another wonderful video.
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. I assume you have already seen the Rockwelll video on the channel too.
Great video. What a talent. Those wartime works are particularly fine
Thanks for the comment - glad you appreciated seeing his work.
What an amazing talent!
You can say that again - thanks a lot for the comment.
Staggering works. Especially the WW1 paintings. I don't know if Matania is credited as an official War Artist, but he should be. The Coronation paintings are also impressive. Matania demonstrates a great skill with crowd scenes, something not every illustrator is comfortable with. In this respect he reminds me of Russian painters of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, such as Ilya Repin and Konstantin Savitsky, who created large canvases flooded with people.
There's a place for realist painters like Matania, even today, particularly for historical interpretations; they take us there, be it eighty years ago or 800, or 8,000 or eight million - well, you get the idea! I have a particular love for dinosaur paintings, as naturalistic and as accurate as is feasible. Sometimes, miniscule detail helps to transport the viewer into the time and place presented.
Another gem of a video, Pete, thank you! 👍
Many thanks for another metaphotical and literal thumbs up. I dont know for sure but I imagine Matania must have been officially recognised for the war work - he was doing most of it on behalf of the ministry of propaganda.I finally realised why I like his work so much, and you spell it out in your comment. He painted images of the ancient world that bring it to life for us, just as you say about paleo-illustration.Some of that is in the pipeline too.
Very enjoyable program as usual, thank you.
Thanks - I'm glad you enjoyed viewing his work.
Wow, what an amazing talent he was. In his art, he was a fearless champion of human life both real and imagined!
I have to ask myself, given the age and the plethora of supremely talented artists such as Matania (and Parrish comes also to mind). was this Golden Age of Illustration also the apex of western illustrative art?
Are we looking at an artistic wildfire that burned itself out or has the demand for this kind of art simply faded away?
Many thanks for your comment and appreciation of this video. There are many who do think that the Golden Age was precisely that, and in a sense it was certainly never to be repeated. But my own opinion is somewhat different. I believe the work that came later was every bit as vital and visually engrossing, even if not as technically demanding. It's a bit like the difference between classical music and jazz in my mind. And there is still some great painted illustration out there but we generally don't get to see it so much.
Meraviglioso grazie per averlo caricato ❤
...e grazie mille per il tuo apprezzamento.
As you say Matania was a genius. And yet without your channel I would never of heard of him. So, thank you again for bringing such forgotten artists to the attention of your subscribers. Another fantastic episode, thanks Pete.
Many thanks for your favourable response to Matania's work and my efforts to bring him greater appreciation.
Voluptuous women scantily clothed? Well, the man was Italian... :)
Brilliant stuff. Thanks for letting me know his work exists.
That he enjoyed that subject matter wasn't the surprise - it was that the puritanical British censors allowed it to be printed. Many thanks for your comment and appreciation.
No other word for it GENIUS. The figure work is remarkable. I shall be looking through this video again, remarkable skill and art. Thank you Pete for bringing Fortunino to our attention.
Thanks for the comment, and I'm pleased you think the video is worth another look. If only every viewer did that...
So much detail and depth for works that were given so little time for turnaround from request to completion. Thanks again❤
Thanks a lot for your comment and appreciation of Matania's illustrations.
Each piece was more stunning than the last!! The details are incredible. Thank you, Mr. Beard, for sharing this master with us🙏
Thanks, and I'm delighted you really appreciate his work.
Greatest, not only in Britain, but I say the World. Wonderful stuff!
Thank you, Pete!
Thanks for the comment and I'm glad you hold him in high esteem. He deserves it.
I have just come across a 1932 Pathe short silent film of him at work. It's a great view of his methods and he seemed to have a good relationship with his models. Thank you so much for this video - without your inclusion of him in unsung heroes I wouldn't have known to click on the video!
Thanks a lot for the information, and I've now added the link to this video in the description box of my Matania video. Very informative to see him at work.
How did l not know about this amazing artist! Maybe being from th United States. So glad to know about his spectacular Tala t and imagination. Thanks for educating me. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Hello and many thanks for your appreciative comment. Matania didn't make much impact in the USA, although he was occasionally published in American magazines. I'm very glad to have introduced you to his incredible body of work.
Another 5 star production on one of the greatest non book illustrators of the Golden Age. I ran across his work while researching some ILN and other magazines, and couldn't believe they weren't photographs. By the way, a video on all the ERB artists would also make a good subject. The Salome at the 14 minute mark is one of the best I have ever seen, and the Morgan le Fay stealing Excalibur at the 15 minute mark is by far the best. I would love to have a framable copy for my Arthurian lore collection. Thanks again Pete.
Hi Albert and I thought this one would be to your liking. Thanksd a lot for the comment. But I have to confess that I have no idea what ILN or ERB stand for. Care to educate me?
Another superb hommage to an astounding illustrator.
Thanks again for your continued appreciation of the channel content.
Wow! Had to refocus my brain to see some of those images as drawings and not photos. Mind blowing to think he was churning them out on a weekly basis. Thanks as always for bringing to our attention via such lovely videos. 👍
Thanks for the comment and appreciation of my video - and of course the work of Matania.
Thanks you very much Mr. Beard, for the insight into this extremely talented and tremendously prolific illustrator.
Your appreciative comment is very welcome. I'm pleased you enjoyed his work.
Thank you for introducing us to this artist! I have never heard his name before, but his work seems so familiar. Some of the commentators praise his wartime work and the photo-realistic execution of his illustrations....and they are spot-on !!! Also, this illustrator is truly a master of depth and light - we loved it! And once more my wife and I would like to compliment you on your graphic additions (always the right fonts!) and background music. You make every video a delightfull watch!!
Many thanks from Matania and me for your appreciation and ongoing support. It continues to make my day to know that some viewers really enjoy the content.
Being from some art backwaters here in the US, I had not heard of this phenomenal artist. Thank you for once again sharing such a talent.
Thanks for your comment and appreciation. And may I say I just watched a couple of your painting videos - very impressive, and relaxing to watch.
@@petebeard thanks so much Pete! I’ve been too busy to edit more recently - my respect for all the work you put into your excellent channel
WOW! A Great talent and a fast worker. Artists who have not done illustration work don't understand the tight deadlines of commercial images, especially for editorial pieces. Back then, you had to prepare the designs, get reference, present sketches for approval and then paint quickly. With multiple figures and difficult subject matter, he must have worked day and night to turn in the work on time. Looks like Fortunino worked in watercolor, and or gouache. His drawing is excellent and quality is consistent. Thanks for the video!
Thanks a lot for your comment, and it's something I wholeheartedly agree with. It's one of the reasons I believe illustration to be far more demanding than fine art, where you can create what you like when you like. I started out in the early 1970s and it was just as you describe for Matania.
Thank you so much for all you have done to enlighten us all!
Thanks for your appreciation. It's good to know the channel is having an impact.
what extraordinary talent. ❤❤❤ thank you
Thanks for the comment and it's good to know you appreciate Matania's remarkable talent.
Thank you Pete
As always you are very welcome.
I'd never heard of this guy before, he's fantastic 😀 Thanks Pete!
Thanks, and I'm happy to have made the introduction.
What an incredible artist. Thanks for making me aware of this artist.
My pleasure. Thanks for the comment.
What a remarkable artist. Thank you for this presentation, Pete.
Thanks a lot from Matania - and me.
I have deep respect for any artist who rejected modernism and stayed committed to the good, the beautiful, and the true.
Thanks a lot for your comment and appreciation of Matania's work.
Just WOW!!! Excellent video Pete!
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. He was a truly remarkable talent and unjustly sidelined.
Wow, what an amazing artist! His figurative work is especially amazing. Your curation of his work is also remarkable!
Thanks for your appreiation of the video from matania and me.
I'm speechless.
This was incredible. wow.
Thanks, again.
Now that's what I call a happy viewer. I'm delighted you are so impressed with his remarkable talent and skill.
This is one of your best presentations, ever. Very insightful and detailed. I never knew of Matania. I am amazed.
I'm very pleased to have made the introduction and thanks a lot for your appreciation.
Amazing and so photo realistic! Thank you sharing your knowledge of these talented illustrators.
Tghanks a lot for your comment. It's always good to get positive feedback from viewers.
wow....thanks, Pete. Great video
I;m very pleased he made an impression. Thanks for the comment.
The colours are vivid and wonderful...cheer Pete...keep well.....E....
Thanks as ever. But I have to say his depictions of Blackpool and Southport don't tally with my own far less glamorous memories from family holidays in the 50s.
@@petebeard....Mrs C,s da used to take her and her sis to Crosby shore, aka,the other place with Anthony Gormley's statues there these days....E
This kind of illustration seen in old books very likely fires the imagination if small children and makes them want to read the story/book they appear in. Am I generalizing? Possibly, but the realism is what one can relate to at a very young age, understanding exaggeration and the odd and bizarre comes later. I think this artist is outstanding in depicting mood, situation, atmosphere and feelings in stark realism.
Thank you, once more, for showing another fascinating video
Many thanks for another favourable response. And your speculation about the very nature of realism in illustration and how humans, both big and lttle, respond to them is the stuff of long animated discussion over a bottle of wine or two. This platform is too limited in that regard.
@@petebeard
I'll happily raise a glass - long distance - to what doubtless would be a very interesting and spirited (pun?) conversation
Fascinating!! (Especially horses)
And your videos stimulates the brain while thinking about it..
Thank you very much.
Thanks as always for your appreciation of this video and Matania's illustrations.
Such a talented artist. Thank you for the video. The dialogue was very informative and well written.
Thanks a lot for your appreciation and comment. Both are very welcome.
Bravo, another masterpiece of Pete's narrative with a less-known illustrator's work - Matania was clearly a prodigious talent of speed and incredible skill who actually lived the dream of being a prosperous artist and he's certainly worthy of your high praise of being the greatest representational illustrator of the UK in the 20th century - I had to pause the video and look closely to believe that all those images were drawings, holy cow they're amazing, though I rather prefer his fantasy/Orientalist style more than his grim war reportage ;) Thanks for your lucid and well-chosen words and for your discerning eye yet again, Pete.
Many thanks for your comment about this video and appreciation of Matania's work, my efforts in collecting and presenting it, and hopefully it will win some new admirers of his illustrations.
Amazing talent. Another great video Pete, thank you for introducing another incredible illustrator.
Thanks for another favourable comment. Always appreciated.
when I was a kid, I found a few pages of his World War 1 book in a town dump along with other treasures that a 12-year-olds love. 70 years later I still have them tucked away some were. there so incredibly well executed.
Thanks for your comment, and I envy you your find.
The depth to his work is simply stunning. Like a human camera.
Thanks a lot for your comment and appreciation of his work.
The illustration of the soldier with the dying horse 'Goodbye, old man', was one of the first artworks to make an impression on me, when I was little and saw it in some magazine. It's very moving, and sums up the tragedy of the war.
Thanks for the comment and appreciation of his work. Those wartime images are all heartbreakingly evocative.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thanks *Pete*
Incredible sense of composition from a very young age. Thank you for reminding us of this great artist.
You are most welcome, and I'm pleased you admire Matania's work.
I've long admired Matania's work and am grateful to you for the information of his life and career that I had not known before. As far as I was able to observe from a few originals on sale at Heritage Auctions, his originals were amazing small, usually no more than about 10x16 inches! Just amazing given the amount of detail in the images, working so small may have accounted somewhat for his prolific production.
Thanks a lot for your comment and appreciation. One of my most used sites is mutualart, and they have a lot of Matania originals too. Some of the monochromes were quite small but there's a reasonable contingent of bigger painted works in colour too. I get the impression that he generally worked at 50% more than printed size, though.
Wow, Matania's illustrations look so realistic that in many instances it almost hard to tell them apart from photographs!
Thanks for your appreciation, and for my money they are superior to most photography.
Thanks again. This is one of my favorites.
Thanks for the comment, and despite my general indifference to painted reality, I'm surprised to realise he's one of my favourites too.
I’m particularly stunned by his black and white work. It’s so brilliant that it loses nothing by not having colour. Although the image you showed that was basically black and white with touches of subtle colour was very appealing.
Hello again, and I must say I've made many a complaint in videos when reviewing muddy grey halftones, but as you point out Matania's are nothing short of incredible, and really jump off the page.
that's real talent. well executed, with depth and expression.
No argument from me on that score. Thanks for the comment.
@@petebeard I thank you for your work Pete.
Wow! What a great talent, thank you for introducing us to his work.
Thanks for your apprecciation - it's very welcome.
You can see how, in the midst of all the different mouvements and revolutions that happened in the pictorial art during his time, someone as figurative as Matania could be overlooked. But his use of light and composition really are masterfull. Thx again for the vid sir ;)
Thanks as always for your appreciation. I must say it baffles me that someone this talented and highly successful should be so overlooked. This would never have happened had he been American.
One of your best...
I'm glad you think so. It seems to be reasonably popular so far.
Wow, crisp indeed! Made me very emotional with the war ones.
Thanks for the comment. It's that he was frequently in the middle of the battles, sketching away, that I find most astonishing.
have been following your work since it began, but this one was particularly good (as the artist was new to me). The lingering over the final images without comment (but none needed!) - thank you.
Firstly, thanks a lot for your longterm dedication to the channel. And secondly my thanks also for your appreciation of this video. I'm glad to have introduced you to his incredible work.
Hah !
AT LAST !
Thought you'd never get to Matania !
Well worth the wait.
And thank you.
Was not aware
he contributed stuff for Look And Learn.
Thanks for the comment. I'll get to pretty much everybody for whom I can find enough material, or die trying.
Remarkable, sheer genius.
I won't argue with you on that score. I just don't understand why he isn't better known.
FANTASTIC...
Very, very clever....
ABSOLUTEMENT.
Thanks for your collection of comments about this video. I'm glad you enjoyed seeing his work.
Thank you Pete , always interesting videos
As always you are very welcome.
Thank you for this. I so do enjoy your content.
That's nice of you to say - I'm glad you enjoyed Matania's work.
Incredible detail & his usage of opaque white was creative & clever & the black ink probably made the white look whiter. He was one lucky guy who had a parent guide him into a lifetime career in a field not easy to get into. He took to it like a duck to water & it served him well
I thought for a minute you had forgotten the stars but I should have known better - they came seperately. And thanks for your appreciation of this video and Matania's illustrations.
Magnificent presentation, Pete Beard. Fortunino Matania's productivity is prodigious! How on earth do artists create so much in one lifetime? I'm looking for artists to present as a volunteer with Arts Explora and I'm indebted to you for this introduction.
Hello again, and many thanks for your appreciation of this video and Matania's work. I'm happy to have introduced you to his mavellous body of illustration and art.
Wow. His Titanic and war scenes are truly amazing. It is really good to remind folks that before cameras, most people could draw (at the least in a basic way) because it was the only option. I wonder if any of the soldiers showed him their own drawings.
Oh! The Burroughs ones are also really good! And somehow he managed not to be racist. The ‘other’ here looks European/neanderthal.
Thank you, again!
Fully enthralling! More please?😊
Thanks a lot. Unfortunately if you mean more by Matania I used just about every image I could lay my hands on just making this video, and the proverbial well is dry.
Beautifully crafted work to be sure, but my ears pricked up at the mention of the "Look & Learn" magazine; a blazing creative spark in my very early years, thanks to a chunky but non-sequential collection in my Primary School's library - what a treat!
Sadly, most of the images he created for Look and Learn, and those by others, are all watermarked so nobody can use them. I was lucky to find any to show.
As a child in the 1970s I read the educational magazine, 'Look and Learn', for several years. I was reminded of this publication by the thumbnail for this episode and was, therefore, interested to hear that, in his later years, Matania himself produced some colour illustrations for the magazine in the early 1960s. I wonder whether some of these might later have been re-used, allowing me to see them some ten years later? Many thanks for all your enjoyable and informative films!
Thanks a lot for your appreciation, and the answer is yes, they carried on printing his illustrations long after he died. I wonder who got the royalties...
😉Thank you!🇬🇧🇵🇹
As always you are very welcome.
Wonderful. Thank you!
I'm pleased you appreciate his work and thanks for the comment.
Reminds me of Dore with an incredible realistic accuracy I agree with your assessment that he is the greatest representational illustrator
Thanks a lot for your comment and appreciation of Matania's formidable talent.
Extraordinary output. And all those crowd scenes. I find that once you get the momentum going on a few projects, it makes it easier. Not easy, but easier. So all I have to do is draw New Year's at Times Square twenty times in a row...
Thanks a lot for your comment and appreciation. I've created a few crowd scenes in my time but they were all cartoons, and they were tough enough to persuade me not to attempt any more. How on earth you create such realism is completely beyond me.
@petebeard I usually say to myself, I bet they can't draw (fill-in the blank) as well as I can, then I scramble for an answer.
Thank you Pete! - Matania was truly prolific AND stuck to his guns in 6 decades of changes in artistic styles and 'isms'. Did he do any pulp magazines/novels illustrations?
Guess he was a naturalized citizen of Britain early on, and didn't face any repercussions during WWII with Italy being part of the Axis powers?
Thanks for your appreciation. And as far as I know he didn;t do any pulp work, or for that matter anything directly for the American market. And no novels either. And your guess about his status in WW2 is correct.
Thank you Pete for this presentation. It’s amazing how many people are drawn in just one of Matania’s paintings. It seems to me like you’ve hired a new graphic designer to put your presentation together for this video. I’ve seen a big improvement over previous TH-cam videos. (If that is true, Hats off to him or her) frank
Thanks as usual for your comments. And I must admit it's flattering you think I have people working for me. I'm a one man band in my back bedroom with a computer, and if the presentations have got better in quality that's down to practice.
@@petebeard the reason I mentioned that the way I did, as when I used to make letter spacing suggestions, I think at one point you mentioned that you handed your presentations over to somebody who takes care of that. But maybe I misunderstood. Frank
@@frankwakeman5216 Hello again, and I think it was my little attempt at humour. Sorry for the confusion.
Fortunino Matania also made illustrations for knapp Drewett the Company that published all the Great Central Railway companys publicity booklets and posters before the First World War. The book Per Rail produced to promote Goods traffic on the the Great Central has drawings, illustrated maps, and a colour print of Immingham docks. I find his pictures always worth a closer look to see all that is happening. to me he often catches as much activity in a picture as a short film clip and still manages to make avoid making things look too busy.
Thanks for your comment and the additional information, although I couldn't find a single usable image of that work, unfortunately.
His attention to great detail (esp with large crowds!) is amazing! Much of his loose pencil work reminds me of Andrew Loomis. Some like Leyendecker? And such at such an early age and speed! I think I paused at almost every shot. Thank you, Sir!
What software are you using for these?
Hello again and as ever your appreciation is always welcome. Regarding softwre it's a combined little group of programs. I use affinity photo (far cheaper than photoshop) to edit, enhance and frame the images, and as I work on a mac I use garageband to record the narration and lay the music track. Ultimately the images and soundtrack are imported into imovie (like garageband it comes free with the mac) and then I spend days editing, re-recording and re-assembling all elements until finally it makes some sort of sense.
He's so good. Never heard of him before.
I'm glad to have maade the introduction. Thanks for the comment.
Is the voice ia generated or is someone stilling your content on ig?
That's him. He has a great voice.
The voice is my own, although I owe a certain debt to half a century of tobacco abuse. So is somebody using me to make fake voices?I have no idea what ig might be.
awesome channel, mr beard
Many thanks for your comment. I try my best.
Excellent work. Most educational.
I reckon his most famous image is that one with the dancer and the daggers!!
Any chance you could point me to a video about the history of some the Illustrated magazines of the era, such as Sphere, and how popular they were at the time?
Thanks a lot for your appreciation. And I'm sorry but I doubt that such a video exists. I've looked as deeply as I can get on the internet trying to find archives of British magazines of that period but there is remarkably little to be had.
@@petebeard - Your videos have really opened my eyes to the treasure troves of art that those illustrated magazines were. As TH-cam develops, we are starting to see more and more deep dives on relatively forgotten forms of media. I have seen Paul Merton make docus about Silent Movies and Alexander Armstrong did one about Boys Own Comics. I will keep my fingers crossed!
woah...
nother great vid
Thanks a lot for the comment.
I've admired Matania's work for decades thanks to the Dover reprint of the two Burroughs Venus books! And not only Venus he also produced at least one color painting for A Princess of Mars (a bare breasted Dejah Thoris being dragged away by two Thark woman also bare breasted...just as Burroughs described!)...What an incredible talent and fortunately having a long career!!
Thanks for the comment and appreciation, and I regret having missed that image in my searches. I must see if I can find it...
Will you be doing T.S. Sullivant particularly on his legacy, and influences like with Animators artist like Milt Khal, Chris Sanders (Creator of Lilo and Stitch), and Peter De Seve (Best known for his work on the Ice Age films).
I did cover Sullivant's work - admittedly only briefly - in unsung heroes 28. And as with Matania and others who appeared in that series he's waiting in line for his own video. But I don't deal in legacy and long term influence, and leave that for others to speculate about.
Makes you feel that if a camera -- in the hands of a supremely gifted (and lucky!) photographer -- had been at many of these events, what was recorded would not be very dissimilar to Mattania's paintings. I saw Queen Elizabeth's coronation myself, on a dinky little B&W tv -- mostly at my mother's insistence that "this was important", although why it was I had no idea then, or even now!
Thanks for your comment and appreciation of Matania's incredible talent. I was three years old when we got our new queen. It took me aback to realise I've lived through three different monarchs, and given Charles' late ascension it may well end up being four.
@@petebeard In the last words of Egypt's King Farouk, "Soon there will be only 5 kings left -- the kings of England, Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds."
Wow! Some of those Re-Define the term: Photo-Realistic!
They do indeed. Thanks for the comment.
sorry that he couled not illustrate the lockdown parties at nr.10 with boris johnson or the 2 tier policies of keir starmer...
I think he might have considered that sort of thing beneath his dignity.
This is an artist I can confidently say, I will study for many year to come along side the likes of Repin. Thank you for the introduction. I am shocked this is the first I'm hearing of this artist
Matania was a remarkably gifted painter, and so prolific too. Thanks for another comment.
wow, amazing artist and amazing channel, subscribed
Thanks a lot for your appreciation of Matania's work, and my efforts with the channel. Many thanks for the subscription too - I need as many as I can get.
wonderfull as always ,, thankyou pete
You are more than welcome.