11/12/2014 James Bama - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bama#cite_ref-2 1/3James BamaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJames Elliott Bama (born April 28, 1926, Washington Heights, New York)[1] is an American artist knownfor his realistic paintings and etchings of Western subjects. Life in Wyoming led to his comment, "Here anartist can trace the beginnings of Western history, see the first buildings, the oldest wagons, saddles andguns, and be up close to the remnants of Indian culture ... And you can stand surrounded by nature'swonders."Contents1 Biography2 Style3 Awards4 References5 External linksBiographyBorn in Manhattan in 1926, he grew up copying Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon comic strip. He had hisfirst professional sale when he was 15, a drawing of Yankee Stadium in the New York Journal-American.He graduated from New York's High School of Music and Art and entered the Army Air Corps, working asa mechanic, mural painter, and physical training instructor.When discharged from the service, and back in New York City, he studied drawing and anatomy at the ArtStudents League. Beginning in 1951, he was an illustrator at New York's Charles E. Cooper Studios for 15years. His first paperback cover was Nelson Nye's A Bullet for Billy the Kid (1950). Bama had a 22-yearcareer as a successful commercial artist, producing paperback book covers, movie posters and illustrationsfor such publications as Argosy, The Saturday Evening Post and Reader's Digest, and his numerous clientsincluded the New York Giants football team, the Baseball and Football Halls of Fame and the U.S. AirForce. Beginning with The Man of Bronze (1964), he did a powerful set of 62 covers for the Doc SavageBantam Books paperbacks, often using as a model actor Steve Holland, star of TV's Flash Gordon (195455). He also painted the box cover art for Aurora's monster model kits, including King Kong, Frankenstein,Dracula and The Mummy.[2]In 1964 he married Lynne Klepfer, a New York University graduate with an art history major. Two yearslater, in June, 1966, the couple headed west as guests of artist Bob Meyers at his Circle M ranch near Cody,Wyoming. Meyers had walked out on his career as a successful Manhattan illustrator with such magazinesas True and The Saturday Evening Post to run his ranch and paint. After return visits in 1967, the Bamasleft New York and moved during September, 1968, into a cabin on Meyers ranch. Bama began to paint11/12/2014 James Bama - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bama#cite_ref-2 2/3contemporary Western subjects during the daytime while doing his freelance illustrations in the evenings.He recalled, "I never came out here with the idea to be a Western artist. It just happened, and thats the wayit should be."In 1970 Bob Meyers was murdered, and his widow Helen moved from the ranch. The Bamas moved to ahouse on Dunn Creek, Wapiti, 20 miles outside Cody, in 1971. In May, 1971, Bama connected with a NewYork dealer, prompting his decision to abandon illustration and put his total concentration into the creationof easel paintings. In Wapiti, James and Lynne Bama built a home and studio, moving into it when their sonBen was born in 1977.His work is collected in The Western Art of James Bama (Bantam Books, 1975) and The Art of JamesBama (1993). Brian M. Kane's James Bama: American Realist (Flesk, 2006) has an introduction by HarlanEllison.StyleBama's art is realism. He sometimes takes advantage of his medium to use lighting techniquessuch asbutterfly lightingthat would not be practical in a photograph taken under ambient light.AwardsBama was inducted into the Illustrators Hall of Fame on June 28, 2000. At the Buffalo Bill HistoricalCenter, when he was the first Honored Artist at the Buffalo Bill Art Show in 2003, Bama commented,"Everything Ive done the rodeo, the trappers, the mountain men has been done around here. The factthat Im from Cody makes this very significant to me. Theyre really honoring Cody and the Buffalo BillHistorical Center."He was inducted into the Monster Kid Hall Of Fame at The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.He received the award for Best Artwork in Japan 1964 for eating a hat dag.References1.^ Kane, Brian M. (2006). James Bama: American Realist. Santa Cruz, CA: Flesk. p. 160. ISBN 0-9723758-8-0.2.^ The Art of Joe DeVito - Tim Lasiuta Interview (http://www.jdevito.com/tim.htm)Kelton, Elmer. The Art of James Bama. Trumbull, Connecticut: Greenwich Workshop, 1993.Kane, Brian M. James Bama: American Realist. Flesk Publications, ISBN 0-9723758-8-0, 2006.External linksBig Horn Galleries: James Bama (http://www.bighorngalleries.com/bama.htm)"Doc Savage at 70" by Tim Lasiuta (http://thenostalgialeague.com/fsfh/savage/savage.html)Robert William Meyers (http://www.meadowlarkgallery.com/MeyersRobertW.htm)11/12/2014 James Bama - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bama#cite_ref-2 3/3James Bama: American Realist (2006) (http://www.fleskpublications.com/publications/bama/)Doc Savage Images (http://www.paulcook-sci-fi.com/DocImagesNewPage1.htm)Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Bama&oldid=632427769"Categories:1926 births 20th-century American painters 21st-century American paintersAnimal artists Art Students League of New York alumni Artists of the American West Doc SavageLiving people People from Park County, Wyoming United States Army Air Forces soldiersArtists from New York CityThis page was last modified on 4 November 2014 at 15:28.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms mayapply. 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