Frank R. Paul was born Rudolph Franz Paul on April 18, 1884 in Radkersburg, Austria. His parents were of Hungarian and Czech ancestry.
He studied architecture in Vienna, Paris, and London, and in 1906 at the age of twenty-two he immigrated to the U.S. and continued his studies in New York City.
In 1910 after completing his studies he opened a professional studio at 95 Liberty Street, which is just north of Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan. He commuted every day to work by ferry boat across the Hudson River.
There he met Rudolpha Costa Rigelsen, another young emigre who had also arrived in NYC in 1906. She was born 1886 in Belgium to parents of Norwegian and Danish ancestry. They married in 1913 and moved to a country home on Park Ridge Road in Rivervale, New Jersey, where they raised four children. Robert, Frances, John, and Patricia.
His first published works in America were graphic designs for a small Jersey City newspaper, The New Jersey Journal, where he was discovered by Hugo Gernsback in 1914.
On September 12, 1918 he registered for the draft as was required by law during the Great War. At the age of thirty-four, married and with children, he was not selected for military service.
In 1920 the family moved to Woodcliff Avenue in Washington, New Jersey.
Along with painting the cover for Gernsback's first issue of Amazing Stories in April 1926, he also drew all the interior story illustrations.
Frank R. Paul spent the rest of his life as the primary artist on most Gernsback publications, including Science Wonder Stories, Air Wonder Stories, and Wonder Stories.
He also worked for other pulp publishers, including Fiction House and Martin Goodman.
In defense of his seemingly outrageous images in science fiction magazines, the artist is quoted as saying,"When I run into a story so bizarre that it seems to have too much of a much-ness, I remind myself that our great-great-grandfathers would have pooh-poohed prophesies of radio and television and aviation. Many of our magazine authors are military men, doctors, chemists, and scientists."
In 1940 he moved to 426 East 84th Street in the Yorkville section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The neighborhood was traditionally known for its large German community. He worked at a rented studio at 154 Nassau Street, which is downtown one block below City Hall. This was conveniently located for commuting on the Lexington Avenue IRT express train, which made the trip in only four stops. This new studio was only seve blocks north from his first studio near Trinity Church.
On April 25 1942 he registered with the draft board, as required by law, and was recorded to be five-ten, 160 pounds, with gray eyes, gray hair, and a light complexion. At the age of fifty-seven he was too old for military service.
During WWII he worked for national defense as a draftsman in shipyards.
He also did freelance illustrations for New York book publishers and executed private mural commissions.
According to Ray Bradbury, "As for me, Frank R. Paul romanced me with future architectures when I was eight, summoning me to cities lost in the Time Ahead until he landed me in shocks of joy, in the colored facades and high-rises of the Chicago World's Fair."
Frank R. Paul died in Teaneck, New Jersey, at the age of seventy-nine on June 29, 1963.
© David Saunders 2009 |
