Guided Tour of the Exhibition Art of the Fantastic: Imaginative Illustration from the Korshak Collection

The A.E. Backus Museum is pleased to announce it will host a special gallery program for the exhibition Art of the Fantastic: Imaginative Illustration from the Korshak Collection on Saturday, April 20 from 1:30 – 3:30 pm. Collector Stephen Korshak will share his deep knowledge and stories behind the art and artists on display in this guided public tour of the exhibition. The program is included with regular Museum admission of $5 per person (current members are always free; and for this special program, those who wish to attend in science fiction / fantasy costume will be admitted free). The exhibition is currently on view at the Backus Museum located at 500 North Indian River Drive in Historic Downtown Fort Pierce, Florida.

Stephen Korshak, founder and owner with his wife Alma of the Korshak Collection, grew up and was inspired by great art in his home. His father, Erle Korshak, was the publisher of the pioneering science fiction book company Shasta Publishers. Shasta ushered in the transition of important science fiction literature from magazines printed on cheap pulp paper to hardcover, library-quality books. Much of that art lived with Korshak at his home and at his father’s company office in Chicago. This significant private collection has grown over the years, touring museums throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Stephen is an associate member of the First Fandom club, and received the Sam Moskowitz Archive Award for excellence in science fiction collecting in 2016.

Free admission to this special gallery program on April 20 will be provided to those who attend in cosplay as their favorite sci-fi or fantasy character. Cosplay is a portmanteau of “costume play”. It is part activity and part performance art in which participants wear costumes that represent specific characters. Works on display from the Korshak Collection offer recognizable characters including: Gandalf the Grey, Elric of Melnibone, John Carter of Barsoom, Tarzan of the Apes, Don Quixote, Sir Gawain, Alice (Adventures in Wonderland), Edgar Allan Poe characters, and assorted aliens, witches, fae folk, and mermaids. Guests, however, are welcome to come as their favorite imaginative character, even if not depicted in the exhibition. A professional event photographer will be documenting the gallery program, who will also share photos with attending cosplayers for their use. For more details and cosplay guidelines, see the Facebook Event page: https://fb.me/e/6dDh5hmxq

Art of the Fantastic: Imaginative Illustration from the Korshak Collection is on view now through April 28, 2024. The Korshak Collection features works by pioneering artists from over a century of published science fiction, horror, and fantasy. These original adventure and fantasy illustrations appeared on the covers and pages of timeless novels, and in classic pulp magazines from the 1930s through 1960s such as Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Fantastic Adventures, and Wonder Stories. The exhibition features 40 works from this notable private collection by such masters as Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Rackham, Gustave Doré, Howard Pyle, Virgil Finlay, Kelly Freas, J. Allen St. John, Frank Frazetta, and Michael Whelan. With outstanding images of Martian princesses, Arthurian legends, ethereal fairies, alien invaders, imaginative pasts and fanciful, uncertain futures, Art of the Fantastic is far and away a superb survey of the extraordinary.