The Paintings Of J. Allen St. John: Grand Master Of Fantasy by Stephen D. Korshak with J. David Spurlock (book review).

J. Allen St. John (1872-1957) was a commercial artist and art teacher. As the paintings showed here in this book, ‘The Paintings Of J. Allen St. John: Grand Master Of Fantasy’ by Stephen D. Korshak with J. David Spurlock, he could turn himself to any genre. Raised on a farm, he also had cowboy training, which was reflected in the horses and other animals he painted. He came to the attention of Edgar Rice Burroughs and consequently painted many covers of Tarzan and other books by the author.

He also did a spate of science fiction covers as well, including Jack Williamson’s first novel, the book cover of which being from his book, ‘Golden Blood’. Granted, his tigers have a certain springiness about them, but I doubt if they had the nature programmes we have today. Something about his painting gives a level of action. I wish there was a note of the scale painted compared to the original and the book cover. St John’s detailing and colouring seem to be done to take into account this and the printing limitations of the time.

The number of people who have been influenced by them, including Frank Frazetta and Jim Steranko, should speak for itself. It’s also interesting learning from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ grandson, Danton Burroughs, how his grandfather Ed relied so much on St John’s paintings and, even when he went out of contract or changed publishers, was determined to get him back. Even so, he did think occasionally St John did feminine male faces.

It’s less likely that you would have come across St John’s work in the UK, so this book is probably the best way to come across it. Although released in 2008, there are still copies floating around out there.

GF Willmetts

January 2026

(pub: Vanguard Productions, 2008. 160-page illustrated large softcover. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-887591-87-4).