Howard and Jane Frank

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Disambiguation: the abstract expressionist artist Jane Frank (Jane Schenthal Frank, 1918-1986) is unrelated to the subjects of this article; see the article titled Jane Frank.)

Howard and Jane Frank are the owners of the Frank Collection of science fiction art and fantasy art, i.e., art which depicts or illustrates science fiction themes and similar other-worldly, exotic, or supernatural subjects associated with speculative fiction and fantasy. The Franks sell works of this kind through their website, "Worlds of Wonder" (wow-art.com). Ms. Frank is also the author of monographs on science fiction and fantasy artists; these books include "The Art of John Berkey" and the "The Art of Richard Powers." The latter book was a nominee for the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Related Book. Jane and Howard Frank were also nominees for the "Best Art Director" award at the ASFA's 19th Annual Chesley Awards (2004) for "The Haggard Project", in which the Franks invited contemporary artists to create paintings illustrating works of fiction by H. Rider Haggard.

Though the Franks call their collection "a showcase of the world's finest fantastic art", this might be considered a misnomer by some. As the Wikipedia article on fantastic art states, "Fantastic art should not be confused with fantasy art, which is the domain of science-fiction and fantasy illustrators...." There is further controversy, apparently, about the extent to which science fiction illustration can truly be called fantasy art (see the Wikipedia article on fantasy art).