Fine art and the fantasy genre

I don’t think that the two are mutually exclusive. The AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) had a wonderful exhibit a couple of years back of fantasy art, mostly fairies and the fae. Some of the more famous ones were by John Atkinson Grimshaw (his most famous would be The Spirit of the Night, though he did also paint Arthurian Art like the Accolade and The Lady of Shallot), Richard Dadd, Joseph Noel Paton… the list goes on. And those paintings are worth millions, but how much were they worth while those artists were still alive?

I think people have always been fascinated by “creatures of myth” and always will. How many living artists in general (not just in the fantasy genre) now could sell a single painting or sculpture for more than a million dollars? Very, very, very few. When looking at famous fantasy artists in our era, like Michael Whelan, Brom, Charles Vess, Dean Morrissey (his original art pieces have been steadily appreciating in value) their original pieces will sell for thousands now but who knows what they will go for in 100-150 years from now?

James C. Christensen – made his name in Cali before moving to Utah to teach at Brigham Young University. I have several of his prints and cannot afford his originals (though I really, really would love to!) We’ve seen lots of his work in galleries in Utah, Idaho and Washington. We’ve also met him several times and he personally signed individual prints for me boyohs – very kind of him! Scott Gustafson is another fantasy artist that does fabulous work (we met him too) We’ve got a few of his pieces as well… A newer artist that trained under James Christensen is Halla Witwer. Her painting titled “A Work of Ark” is hysterical! I love her stuff as well… When I was at Uni in London I attended a stellar exhibit of fantasy works at the Victoria and Albert Museum. There was also an affiliated exhibit at the Museum of London as well as an exhibit in the Mews Gallery at Buckingham Palace that showcased the Royal Family’s private collection that included works of Faberge… There’s lots out there – maybe we’re just behind here in the States? Compared to the rest of the world we’re awfully young still and our artists (and public) haven’t had as much evolutionary time to develop our own mythology and Art to grace it… Just a thought 😳

twindragonsmum :snappy: 😀

Generally Fantasy art is not widely accepted as a fine art form… as someone else mentioned, it is ‘low brow’. Many that deal in fine art galleries and museums do not even consider it art (and I don’t want to get into a debate over what is and is not ‘art’… just stating what I have observed and been told!!).
There are a lot of art forms that are not considered ‘art’ by high end collectors, galleries, and museums. This is a long, slow trend to change. For example Wildlife art is still not accepted many places and has only recently been considered a type of fine art by many galleries and museums (though it still will never sell as well as landscapes, and non-wildlife Western Art).
(I get Western Art collector magazine and a lot of western art and landscapes sell in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per painting range)
Fantasy as a genre is many steps below that even. There have been, wonderfully, a few galleries to accept that type of art in recent times, but in general it is looked down upon.
I have received nothing but horrified looks, and rejections (some polite, some not) when applying to galleries with my fantasy art. It’s one reason I have switched gears to wildlife, but even then it’s hard. Not much luck yet.

Given time this undoubtedly will change as all trends in art do!

Well, this was not my only reason. I’ve always loved animals and have been drawing them as long as I’ve been drawing dragons (since I was 3 or 4!) and even at an early age I swooned over the artwork of Robert Bateman and Guy Coealeach. But yes, it was depressing to never get taken seriously. Not that ‘getting taken seriously’ is a huge goal or even a waypoint I dream about…! But I guess to earn a living it is a key step. 😉 In an ideal world I wouldn’t need money, and I’d paint whatever the heck I pleased and would give the paintings away.
Still, I aim to paint what I love and this was one of those ways of doing it. It’ll take a long time to get established though, if I ever do.

Yyyess… in general. Of course there are fantasy artists that can paint or create what they want and live off of it. Melody is a great example of this balanced compromise between working on what you love and making a living on it and catering to the market (e.g. making sculptures that she had a reasonable feeling will be popular. Vs. making crazy stuff that she might really like to make but won’t sell well as a whole). However this is more of an exception rather than the rule– at least, right now as I speak. This too fluctuates. There are a few ‘key players’ but even they are doing work mostly via contract or commission; how often does Lockwood or Whelan paint something just to sell the original painting (as most ‘fine artists’ do)? Most of their work is for a client, and while their original work does sell for a living wage, they are the minority. I suspect most fantasy artists make the brunt of their money (those that make a true living JUST on fantasy art) off of the commercial aspect. Commissioned work, merchandise (prints, book covers, t-shirts, posters, figurines, etc etc).
Whereas artists whose work is accepted as ‘fine art’ and are shown in esteemed galleries and shows tend to be the opposite. Most of their earnings come from selling originals, and not from merchandise and such.
At least, this has been my observation, with one foot in both worlds. Melody would have perhaps even more insight as she knows many artists in both of these areas!

Not to paint a grim picture of fantasy art as a career. But it’s hard and while ALL artists get mocked by their peers at some point or another, fantasy and sci-fi artists get picked on and looked down upon quite a bit sometimes.

Does this matter? There are a lot of thoughts that an artist should listen only to their inner muse and heart and to hell with everyone else’s opinions! And to an extent this is useful. It is important not to get too bogged down in the specifics and not to let the all mighty dollar guide your work entirely. I don’t know about anyone else though, but my muse doesn’t know how to pay my bills! XD
There is a lot of tricky balance involved, between following your passion, and your need to eat and buy more art supplies…!! You can be successful without doing the first, but it shows in your work if you can manage them both. Art created with passion generally shows..!

That’s a great point! It’s almost like our society missed out on a lot of that… and its too wrapped up in the here and now to focus on mythology and fantasy of the past.

I would suggest that the West is the American mythology (or fantasy), especially the Noble Indian and heroic cowboy, and that this accounts for the popularity of Western art. Fantasy as exemplified by dragons, faeries, unicorns, etc. is an European/Asian artifact. Just out of curiosity, what happens if someone marries fantasy with the West by painting Sasquatch, a dragon as “Spirit of the Badlands”, unicorns among the redwoods, or something like that?