Erdnase photographer ?

All beginners in magic should address their questions here.
webbmaster
Posts: 192
Joined: November 30th, 2016, 11:38 am
Favorite Magician: richard Kaufmann

Re: Erdnase photographer ?

Postby webbmaster » May 1st, 2020, 1:19 pm

How this thread started is that Chris Wasshuber posted somewhere that Richard and I both thought the Expert illustrations had been light-boxed. I vaguely remember him asking me this a long time ago. Anyway, Chris made a recent post saying that IF that were true, then he'd be interested in some kind of forensic analysis of the camera used. When I saw that I thought that even more interesting might be "who was the photographer". And it snowballed from there. (Note: I just remembered another artist who didn't use photos to draw hands - Ed Mischell (sp ?). But anyway, I never said I thought Smith was an animator. Only that animators get two years of life-drawing before moving ahead into animation. I just spoke to David Roth last night and he remembered talk about The Expert's illustrations being light-boxed. So it isn't that outlandish a speculation is it ? Adios.

Bill Mullins
Posts: 5913
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Huntsville, AL
Contact:

Re: Erdnase photographer ?

Postby Bill Mullins » May 1st, 2020, 2:47 pm

Jonathan Townsend wrote:Do the hands in erdnase look like other hands Smith is known to have drawn?


This question has come up more than once. I've searched extensively for more work by M. D. Smith, and have found nothing else that is similar enough to compare. Most of his work that I've found is either oil paintings, or wash illustrations of magazine articles and stories, or photographs. I have never seen anything comparable enough in type or style to say that the hands in Expert are or are not consistent with his other work.

Bill Mullins
Posts: 5913
Joined: January 17th, 2008, 12:00 pm
Location: Huntsville, AL
Contact:

Re: Erdnase photographer ?

Postby Bill Mullins » May 1st, 2020, 3:02 pm

webbmaster wrote: So it isn't that outlandish a speculation is it ?


But that's all it is -- speculation. The only evidence one way or another is the statement in the book -- "Drawn from life" -- and Smith's recollections, which do not include photographs. Chris states "It has been established that the 101 illustrations in "Expert at the Card Table" were traced from photos" as if it were a certainty. It is not.

User avatar
Richard Kaufman
Posts: 27056
Joined: July 18th, 2001, 12:00 pm
Favorite Magician: Theodore DeLand
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Re: Erdnase photographer ?

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 1st, 2020, 4:08 pm

webbmaster wrote:How this thread started is that Chris Wasshuber posted somewhere that Richard and I both thought the Expert illustrations had been light-boxed.


I might have thought that at one time, but now I think it's nonsense.
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine


Return to “General”