WILLIAM VANCE
BRUCE J. HAWKER
All or nothing (T.5), Le Lombard 1988
Original cover. Signed. Watercolor and gouache on paper
35.3 × 49.5 cm (13.9 × 19.49 in.)
Without question, Vance is one of the most powerful illustrators of his generation. Having cut his teeth in advertising at a time - before the computer - when the processes of "great painting" were applied to commercials, he learned to execute hyperrealistic drawings with "special effects" involving materials and light. In this impressive low angle shot, we see the Glorious in the early morning, anchored in the fog, in its halos of light bathed in cold colors. Everything is amazingly precise: the rigging, the paused sails, the lowered anchor's sprocket. One cannot imagine the documentation behind such a representation where everything is incredibly accurate. There is nothing static in this scene: with great strokes of the oars, the boat approaches, avoiding the reefs. Its occupants (with the exception of the rowers in full effort) admire the scene, as does the spectator. William Vance's investment in this cover of Bruce J. Hawker, his favorite series, is total: it is a masterpiece.
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