Werner Voss' Last Fight by Various Artists

[tengew]

i have the book the pete posted the first picture.......reading the story is what got me hooked

[tcrean7828]

Originally Posted by tengew

i have the book the pete posted the first picture.......reading the story is what got me hooked

Mate,
And what book was that - Pray tell? For the rest of our listening audiance!

ttfn

tcrean7828

tom

[tengew]

famous aces it had stories from WW1-Vietnam
have to hunt it down and get real name

[Pete Hill]

Hi Tengew,

The Turner work is also illustrated in a book about the German Luftwaffe that was illustrated entirely with Michael Turner paintings. It was called "Luftwaffe Aircraft" and was co-authored with Frank Mason and published in 1987. It is no longer in print but there are copies for sale from US used-book sellers on abebooks.com.
Also, the work was included in the coffee-table book "Classic air battles of the RAF: from WW1 to the present" by Michael Armitage, published in 1995. It featured a series of paintings by various artists on the RAF's history.
I have only seen a library copy some years ago, but I remember the accompanying text to the painting examining the controversies of the battle, such as why the nearby squadron of German fighters (that some claim to have been present) fail to intervene in the action? Again, if you are interested, there are copies on abebooks.com.
Also, if you are a Michael Turner fan, there is the book "The Royal Airforce: The aircraft in service since 1918" by Chaz Bowyer and illustrated by Turner's paintings. He has produced a painting (most of them specially commissioned for the book) of nearly every aircraft the RAF has used. It was first published in hardback in the early 1980s but more recently, it has come out again in softcover. Once again, I recommend abebooks.com.
Cheers, Pete.

[Pete Hill]

The work "Last dance of the Hussar" that Russell Smith kindly added to the thread shows an example of Russell's earlier work.
I like the unity of colour and, just as importantly, texture in this work. Regarding the latter, it is a classic mistake made by many artists, especially beginners including myself, that the textural qualities of the work are not consistent and not unified.
Texture is a dirty word to many aviation artists who associate the term with messy, sloppy and, horrors-of-horrors, modern art! They feel it shouldn't apply to aviation art where a smooth, glassy surface is required.
Texture does not have to be like the work of Jackson Pollock with great blobs of paint sticking out from the canvas. If used well, it can be be an important part of the work, just as significant as tone, colour and composition.
Where many artists go wrong, as I have mentioned, is they do not use texture consistently. I have lost count of how many landscapes I have looked at in amateur artist's shows and see how they have smooth, glassy skies and then you get these lumpily textured trees in the foreground.
Russell has achieved textural unity with the brushwork matching in both the aircraft and the background. The details of the aircraft are of course given their due but they are not overly worked and instead match the painterly brushwork of the ground and sky.
The overall cool colour-scheme of the work is also well-unified. Russell has accurately set the scene late in the day with the heavy blues of the dying daylight very apparent. The yellow cowling of Voss' Fokker is almost the only warm point but Russell has made this more subtle by suddueing the yellow into a primrose tone.
Very fine piece, Russell.
Cheers, Pete

[tengew]

i wish i could find the book and get its real name
it included all aces from every country from ww1- the Vietnam war
i think the 6 day war is in there also as is the split of pakistan and india
there was art for about 6-9 stories and they had charts of the standings for each nation................ time to dig in the pit of despair and find the book

[Pete Hill]

The excellent work by Steve Anderson that is in the Forum Gallery called 'Aces High' and the one by Wilson Hurley that Russell posted on this thread are also both very fine works.
They are similar in the sense that they both use a similar colour scheme of both warm and cool tones and, unlike all the previous works, it is the Victors of the fight- the SE5s of 56 Squadron, that are nearest the viewer.
Steve's piece is an excellent work with the colour scheme radiating warmth through the main subjects-the aircraft- and the strong cool tones of the background acting as a contrast. This helps to emphasize the time of day as dusk is approaching and the low-lying sunlight gets that gives that golden yellowish hue to all objects and strong contrasts as shadows lengthen and grow darker. No wonder popular UK artist Nicholas Trudgian loves this time of day as he can indulge his love of sunsets and allow long and deep shadows to emphasize depth and perspective. The colour scheme in Steve's piece is very well unified and he has managed to let warm colours as a focus without the mood of the work becoming too romanticised (hear that, Mr Trudgian?) The warm tones of the SE5’s greens, turned almost into a greenish khaki by the yellow sunlight, act as both a contrast to, and a balance with, the strong cooler tones of the sky and ground.
His composition is tight but not overly-cluttered and the aircraft are well arranged into a melee that looks random enough to be a convincing melee but is also a carefully arranged composition that leads the viewer’s eye around in a circle, taking in all the action.
Wilson Hurley’s work takes a similar approach. Here we are drawn very close to the aircraft and they are rendered in strong colour, brown-greens of the SE5s given a yellowish hue by the setting sun, starkly highlighted by strong shadows on the aircraft and the bleached blue-green-yellows of the Fokker’s topside wingspan. They contrast nicely and strongly with the superbly rendered no-man’s land landscape below with cooler tones dominating.
There is real human drama in Hurley’s piece. I love the upturned face of Voss in his cockpit, looking up at the SE5 flying past above him, its pilot looking back down at the German ace. In an expertly done, almost cinematic device, Hurley has painted Voss’ face upturned with the sun shining directly on him, just outside the shadows of the Fokker’s topside wings. It acts as a focal point and gives a human drama and emotion to the work. We, the viewer, wonder, what is Voss thinking? Is he beginning to despair, or does he still hope that he can fight his way out of this somehow? Is he thinking that he, on the same day he was supposed to depart for home leave to his family in Krefield, has let his ambition and perhaps his over-confidence, get himself into a desperate battle against enemy pilots of equal skill and valour. Perhaps Voss is getting exasperated as no matter how tightly he turns, or how cleverly he manoeuvres, there is always another SE5 trying to cling to his tail.
How long has he left before Rhys-Davids gets a bead on him for just that one moment?
I must say this is one of my favourites. Thanks, Russ, for posting it.
Pete

[Russell Smith]

Originally Posted by Pete Hill

I must say this is one of my favourites. Thanks, Russ, for posting it.

You're welcome. Pete. I must add that this isn't just one of my favorite Werner Voss paintings, this is probably my favorite piece of aviation art...period.

As beautiful as the onscreen image is, Wilson Hurley's true skill with a brush is even more apparent when viewing his originals. He has mastered the art of glazing in such a way that one feels as if he could dive right into one of Wilson's paintings. In this piece, I just love the way that Wilson has glazed the details of the background so that they are discernible, yet visually the background just falls away from the viewer so that you get a real sense of altitude.

Russ

[womenfly2]

I have never seen Wilson Hurley painting as shown here, simply breath taking, truly amazing!

If it could only be turned into CGI aircraft what a sight that would be ..... Flyboy's II the sequel anyone? LOL.

Thanks Russ for posting these, they are all magnificent!

WF2

[Pete Hill]

To Tengew,

found it! It is "Fighter Aces" by Christopher Shores. Hope you can track down a copy. I got the image of the Turner work off a website where the book was being reviewed, I don't even own my own copy.
Regards Pete