The Fantastic World of Gervasio Gallardo

by Gervasio Gallardo, Betty Ballantine (Introduction)

Collection of 38 the Spanish artist's "serious" work, along with paintings that have been used as cover art for various works of fantasy. All are full-page, full-color, suitable for framing. Five-page Introduction by editor Ballantine. From old bookstore stock, this oversized softcover is STILL SEALED in Shrinkwrap! Presumably a FIRST EDITION, First Printing from 1976 (still sealed, so can't tell). Only flaw is slight warping

Genres: Art

90 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1976

About the author

Gervasio Gallardo is a Spanish artist and illustrator. He has produced numerous of surreal paintings and book covers, for many science-fiction and fantasy authors.

Born at Barcelona, Gallardo studied in Spain, working for several Spanish advertising agencies, before moving to Munich, Germany in 1959. The next four years he spent working for the Delpire Agency in Paris, before travelling to the United States in 1963. Here he met Frank and Jeff Lavaty, who represent his work to this day.

In 1969, he was commissioned by Ballantine Books to create cover art for their Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. He went on to be the most prolific of their cover artists, creating a total of twenty-nine. Since then, he has created at least eighteen covers for other authors, including producing all of the artwork for his own release: The Fantastic World of Gervasio Gallardo. Eventually Gallardo returned to Barcelona to set up a studio. In 1977, 1978 and 1979 Gervasio Gallardo was represented at the International Art Fair of Basel by Sala Gaudí art gallery, where he exhibited individually in 1976 and 1978 and which today has a large part of his work.

Gallardo has won numerous awards within Europe and the United States, and has exhibited his work in Paris, Barcelona, and the United States.

Reviews

[Mir]

I happened to see this book in the library catalog while searching for something else. I had this as a child (that is, my parents had it) and used to spend hours looking at the pictures. I always recognize the book covers that were in here right away. I think the first one I read was

[Muzzlehatch]

Gervasio Gallardo is a Spanish artist (born 1934) best known in America, if he is known at all, for his paperback cover illustrations, in particular for many of the "Ballantine Adult Fantasy" series of the late 1960s/early 1970s edited by Lin Carter. This handsome volume in Peacock Press' tremendous series of books on illustrators and fantasy art showcases only a few of his works for that series -- 9 covers reproduced in full or 1 1/2 page size (the book is 9x11 so these are nice-sized pictures) along with closeups in some cases -- but no fan of the BAF series should be disappointed, as Gallardo's other work is just as appealing and mostly of a piece with the book cover illustrations. He is a surrealist very much in the tradition of Magritte and Dali, but more whimsical, "lighter" than either, with a powerful sense of light and color and a keen sense of architecture that sometimes verges on a different kind of surrealism -- MC Escher. Betty Ballantine's introduction doesn't really add much to our understanding of the work, but perhaps it doesn't need any help.

A quick search shows no other books on Gallardo, so this is well worth looking for.

[Victor]

Gorgeous reproductions of Gallardo's surreallism and symbolism derived commercial work (with a few other pieces) thrown in. Disappointed that this seems to be the only book of his work, and the two page spreads verge on dropping my rating a half star or so, but the work is too good not to give full marks.