John Berkey

John Berkey passed away yesterday.

This is truly heartbreaking. He was one of the first artists I worked with when I came to Tor. Although poor health kept him from much new work over the past many years, his paintings are still as fresh and relevant today as ever. John was honored with Spectrum Grand Master award, Society of Illustrator’s Hall of Fame, and Expose Grand Master. The last is almost ironic, since John was known for never having touched a computer, but then, his influence on today’s digital artists is unmistakable. He was all the more amazing that he was able to create the images he did in physical paint....it's as if the art wolrd has just now caught u with him.

“Being fearful of failure or having little confidence just becomes something to climb over.” -- John Berkey

"[John Berkey's] signature style is one of vigorously applied brushstrokes -- never labored -- that in a series of strategically placed dots and dashes, form images so vivid and so credible that they seem to go beyond photographic reality, and yet the artist's hand is always present. We look at these illustrations and know that they are paintings -- they are not photographs -- and, more importantly, that they are art." -- Vincent di Fate’s speech for John’s Society of Illustrator’s Hall of Fame induction. The full essay is reprinted in Illustrators 46.

“There is a type of majesty to his canvases; his cityscape spacecraft have a certain dignity, almost a sense of nobility, not unlike the ailing vessels of a lost age.” -- Arnie Fenner in his Grand Master essay from Spectrum 6