Pulp Art: The Robert Lesser Collection

 

 
 
Pulp Art is bursting out all over in Manhattan. In addition to “Pulp Art: The Robert Lesser Collection” now on view at the Society of Illustrators, science fiction writer William Wu’s collection of comic books which depict Asians is featured in the New York University Bobst Library Fales Collection. Lesser and Wu are both collectors who recognized that pulp art is a valuable part of American cultural heritage, not disposable garbage. I love science fiction; I love my opportunity to see what Wu and Lesser collected.
 
Lesser pioneered recognizing the value of pulp art. The collection he started in the 1970s has grown into the most comprehensive collection of pulp art in America. Pulp art, which was often destroyed after it was created, is now an extremely rare highly collectible commodity. Ninety pieces from the Lesser collection are currently displayed at the Society of Illustrators.  

 

 
The collection is both beautiful and fascinating in that it opens a window on a bygone America when Depression era ravages caused people to seek accessible and immediate escape. I was thrilled to see two original TARZAN novels, first editions of works by H. G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs, and real examples of WONDER STORIES and AMAZING STORIES compiled by the legendary science fiction editor Hugo Gernsback. (Like me, Gernsback hails from Forest Hills, Queens—and ditto for Stan Lee who created Superman.)

 

 

I was touched to see a 1933 edition of WEIRD TALES which contains a story by venerated science fiction writer Jack Williamson. When I noticed  Williams’ name, I fondly recalled seeing him in person at a science fiction convention.

 

 
My favorite image in the exhibition is one created by Harold Winfield Scott (1898-1977) for a magazine called CLICK. It depicts American women and children imprisoned behind barbed wire in a “concentration center” and guarded by a Japanese soldier wielding a bayonette. The historical truth which the image reflects is obvious. What struck me the most, however, is that the vertical wooden poles which hold the barbed wire to my eye look just like the iconic images of the World Trade Center rubble. The World Trade Center was attacked because it literally was a “concentration center.”
 
It was wonderful to have a chance to sit down and talk with Robert Lesser. He is a warm and charming man who exudes enthusiasm for the pulp art he single handedly saved. He exalted when he explained to me that future generations could view what he had the foresight to collect.

 

 
Okay, I think that I have managed to write this text without lapsing into meta plotz hyper drive warp factor ecstacy mode. Why would I do that? Well, I share Lesser’s enthusiasm. Full disclosure: I devoted my professional life to being a feminist science fiction scholar. If your professional life has a trajectory which differs from mine, you will still enjoy seeing the Lesser and Wu collections. Boldly go!
 
Oy, why did I ever throw out all of my comic books?

- Marleen Barr

The “Pulp Art: The Robert Lesser Collection” is on display now through July 31st, 2011.

 

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