GALLERY OF FRANK R. PAUL's SCIENCE FICTION ARTWORK
artwork (c) Frank R. Paul estate
Cover Art by Frank R. Paul for a Dec. 1953 issue of Science-Fiction Plus, edited by his old friend Hugo Gernsback, who had first published Paul's artwork four decades before. While Paul would paint covers for Gernsback's Forecast magazines, this is one of the last covers for a major magazine that Frank R. Paul ever did. Paul and Gensback were together at the beginning and at the end.
[Note, this illo is often credited as being the last cover Paul ever did, but the Dec. 1957 Satellite SF cover followed, as did several images for Forecast, as late as Dec. 1962.]
Detail:
This image was reprinted on the cover of a 1977 Calendar of Science Fiction Art:
The cover Paul did for Science-Fiction+ which preceded this one was the cover for the Oct. 1953 issue:
In the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the father, oh-so-proud of his Greek heritage, challenges friend and foe alike to give him any word, any word, and he will show you how the root of that word is Greek.
At the risk of sounding like that Greek father, I will note that Paul's spaceship bears a remarkable resemblance to the Enterprise, which showed up years later in Star Trek.
The particular Enterprise incarnation shown is the "A" type from the first film. Remove the saucer section (which was shown in the films and second TV series to be detachable), and it would look even more like Paul's craft. So... Show me any ship, any ship, and I will show you how the inspiration for that ship is Paul.
The back cover of this issue (Oct. 1953, Science Fiction Plus) featured a Paul illustration of "The Elements of Science Fiction":
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