Jack Gaughan (b. 1930, d. 1985) is a beloved figure in the evolution of science fiction art. In the '60s and '70s his instantly recognizable jacket pieces were a key factor in the look of the ACE and DAW paperback book lines, and his work as a fantastical painter and illustrator was frequently seen in core sf magazines like Galaxy Science Fiction and Locus, where he also wrote an ongoing column. In 1969, Gaughan attended a science fiction and fantasy convention in St. Louis, Missouri, aptly named St. Louiscon, and while there circulated a portfolio featuring a handful of impressionistically rendered pen & ink drawings, each celebrating iconic moments from classic pulp fiction, (such as illustrations inspired by H. Rider Haggard's She, and the serials of Sax Rohmer) and mysterious real life history (the cover of the portfolio announced itself with a foreboding illustration of the infamous Nostradamus.) A multiple Hugo Award Winner in both the 'best professional art' and 'best fan art' categories, (which he often won simultaneously in the same year) Gaughan was a massive whirlwind of SFF creativity, adding a wildly inspiring illustration dimension to many of of the biggest books in the genre (such as The Lord of the Rings) and never failing to encsapsulate epic stories each time he put pen to paper, wherever he went.
In 1972 a neophyte Spanish media company created a rare platform for artists to explore classic genre imagery with a sophisticated cinematic sensibility.
