View source for Hal Foster

{{Short description|Canadian-American illustrator (1892–1982)}}
{{About|the comic strip artist|the art critic and Princeton professor|Hal Foster (art critic)}}
{{Infobox comics creator

| image         = Halfoster.jpg
| caption       = Foster at his drawing board in 1962
| birth_name    = Harold Rudolf Foster
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1892|08|16}}<ref>"United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JTRZ-ZPP : accessed 25 Feb 2013), Harold Foster, July 1982; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).</ref>
| birth_place   = [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]], Canada
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1982|07|25|1892|08|18}}
| death_place   = [[Hernando, Florida]], U.S.
| nationality   = 
| cartoonist    = 
| write         = y
| art           = y
| pencil        = 
| ink           = 
| edit          = 
| publish       = 
| letter        = 
| color         = 
| alias         = 
| notable works = ''[[Prince Valiant]]'', ''[[Tarzan (comics)|Tarzan]]''
| awards        = [[Inkpot Award]] (1977)<ref>[https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award]</ref>
| website       = 
}}
'''Harold Rudolf Foster''', [[FRSA]] (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip ''[[Prince Valiant]]''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship and attention to detail.

Born in [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]], Canada, Foster moved to the United States in 1921, and began his illustration career in [[Chicago]], eventually becoming an American citizen. In 1928, he began one of the earliest adventure comic strips, an adaptation of [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s ''[[Tarzan (comics)|Tarzan]]''. In 1937, he created his signature strip, the weekly ''Prince Valiant'', a fantasy adventure set in medieval times. The strip featured Foster's dexterous, detailed artwork; Foster eschewed word balloons, preferring to have narration and dialogue in captions.{{sfn|Kane|2001|p=67}}

==Early life==
Born in [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]], Foster was a staff artist for Stovel, Commercial Art Co., W.M. Buckley Studio, and Brigdens Limited in [[Winnipeg]]. In 1919, Foster rode his bicycle to [[Chicago]] to see what the job market was like. He later moved there in 1921, and began working for the Jahn & Ollier Engraving Co.<ref name="washingtonpost">{{cite news |last=Mastrangelo |first=Joseph P. |date=April 22, 1978 |title=Val's Sire at 85 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/04/22/vals-sire-at-85/66a9b62c-45e3-4ba5-9473-7f03f99235c6/ |work=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref> Foster freely "audited" classes at the [[Chicago Academy of Fine Arts]], a practice commonly made back then by poor students, which is confirmed by the fact that the Art Institute has no record of him taking formal classes. The illustrator [[Joseph Christian Leyendecker|J. C. Leyendecker]] was an early influence on Foster.<ref>{{Citation | type = book review | url = http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/book-review-prince-valiant-vol-hal-foster/ | last = Donoghue | first = Steve | title = Open Letters Monthly | contribution = Prince of a Lost Realm | access-date = September 18, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190323231920/http://www.openlettersmonthly.com/book-review-prince-valiant-vol-hal-foster/ | archive-date = March 23, 2019 | url-status = dead }}.</ref>

In 1925, Foster began working for the Chicago advertising studio Palenske-Young, Inc., and his clients were: Union Pacific Railroad, Johnson Outboard Motors, Wurlitzer Grand Pianos, Jelke Margarine, and the International Truck Company. In 1928, Palenske-Young was hired by Joseph Henry “Joe” Neebe, owner of ''Famous Books and Plays'', to adapt the novel ''[[Tarzan (comics)|Tarzan]]'' by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] into a 10-week comic strip series. Foster was selected to illustrate the adaptation, which first appeared in the British weekly magazine ''Tit-Bits'' on October 20, 1928. The series was later published in the United States, beginning on January 7, 1929. Foster returned to do the ''Tarzan'' [[Sunday strip]] beginning September 27, 1931, continuing until [[Burne Hogarth]] took over the Sunday ''Tarzan'' on May 9, 1937.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.toonopedia.com/val.htm | last = Markstein | first = Don | title = Toonopedia | contribution = Prince Valiant}}.</ref>

==''Prince Valiant''==
<!-- [[WP:NFCC]] violation: [[File:Prince valiant.jpg|thumb|Prince Valiant, as drawn by Harold Foster]] -->
[[William Randolph Hearst]], who had long wanted Foster to do a comic strip for his newspapers, was so impressed with Foster's pitch for ''[[Prince Valiant]]'' that he promised Foster a 50-50 split of the gross income on the strip, a very rare offer in those days. [[Prince Valiant]] premiered on February 13, 1937. It still continues today by other creators since the 1970s. In 1944, Foster and his wife Helen moved from [[Evanston, Illinois]] to [[Redding, Connecticut|Redding Ridge, Connecticut]]. In 1954, the couple was seen on television's ''[[This Is Your Life (American franchise)|This Is Your Life]]''. In 1971, the Fosters retired to [[Spring Hill, Florida]]. In 1967, [[Woody Gelman]] revived some of Foster's earlier work for his Nostalgia Press.<ref>Jamieson, Dave. ''Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession'', pp. 125–126. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press (imprint of Grove/Atlantic), 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-8021-1939-1}}</ref>

==Retirement and death==
In 1970, Foster was suffering from [[arthritis]] and began planning his retirement. He had several artists draw [[Sunday strip|Sunday pages]] before choosing [[John Cullen Murphy]] as his collaborator and permanent replacement in 1971. Murphy drew the strip from Foster scripts and pencil sketches.<ref name="washingtonpost" /> Foster stopped illustrating (and signing) the ''Prince Valiant'' pages in 1971 – with the exception being Page #2000, on June 8, 1975, that featured reprinted vignettes of previous panels along with his signature. For nine years, Foster continued writing the strip and making fairly detailed {{convert|8.5|in|adj=on}} x {{convert|11|in|adj=on}} penciled layouts for Murphy, until he sold the strip to King Features Syndicate in 1979. Prolonged anesthesia during a hip replacement surgery in November 1979 took his memory, and he no longer remembered ever doing ''Tarzan'' or ''Prince Valiant''.

Foster attended the [[Comic Art Convention]] in 1969, and the [[OrlandoCon]] in 1974 and 1975.<ref>[http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2007/01/jim-iveys-photo-album-part-one.html Jim Ivey's Photo Album, Part One]</ref><ref>[http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2011/07/san-diego-comic-con-1974.html San Diego Comic Con 1974]</ref>

Foster was 73 when he was elected to membership in UK's [[Royal Society of Arts]], an honor given to very few Americans.{{sfn|Kane|2001|p=155}}

Foster died at a care facility in Hernando, Florida in 1982, a month before his 90th birthday.<ref>Ancestry dot com Death Record</ref>

==Influence and legacy==
Foster is a seminal figure in the history of comics, especially action-adventure strips. [[R.C. Harvey]] argues that Foster and ''[[Flash Gordon]]'' artist [[Alex Raymond]] "created the visual standard by which all such comic strips would henceforth be measured."<ref>[[R.C. Harvey|Harvey, R.C.]] (Jan 2009). "Alex Raymond at Last". ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' (295): 161–173. ISSN 0194-7869.</ref>

Foster's clear yet detailed panels, uncluttered by word balloons, were appreciated by contemporaries of his generation such as [[Lynd Ward]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2010/10/13/the-woodcuts-of-lynd-ward/ |title=The Woodcuts of Lynd Ward |last=Spiegelman |first=Art |author-link=Art Spiegelman |date=October 13, 2010 |website=[[The Paris Review]] |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref> but perhaps his greatest impact was on the young artists who drove the [[Golden Age of Comics]]. Foster was a major influence on this generation, many of whom went on to become iconic and influential artists themselves. [[Joe Kubert]] called Foster, Raymond and [[Milton Caniff]] the "three saints" of comic art in the 1930s and 1940s.<ref>Lundy, Tiel (2011). "Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist". [[Shofar (journal)|Shofar]] 29 (2): 193. doi:10.1353/sho.2011.0069.</ref> Several sources have identified early work by [[Joe Simon]], [[Jack Kirby]] and [[Bob Kane]] as [[Swipe (comics)|swipes]] from Foster,<ref name="cbr189">{{cite web |url=http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/01/08/comic-book-legends-revealed-189/ |title=Comic Book Legends Revealed #189 |last=Cronin |first=Brian |date=January 8, 2009 |website=[[Comic Book Resources]] |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/09/18/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-173/ |title=Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #173 |last=Cronin |first=Brian |date=September 18, 2008 |website=Comic Book Resources |access-date=January 21, 2014 |archive-date=June 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630225104/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/09/18/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-173/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/2198 |title=Jack Kirby, Fanboy |last=Mendryk |first=Harry |date=August 28, 2009 |website=The Jack Kirby Museum |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref> and Kirby claimed that he "cannibalized" Foster's style, among others.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.jp/2012/08/the-1975-comic-art-convention-jack.html |title=The 1975 COMIC ART CONVENTION: Jack Kirby, Walter Gibson and Jim Steranko |last=Best |first=Daniel |date=August 19, 2012 |website=20th Century Danny Boy |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref> Kirby also stated that the character design for [[Etrigan the Demon]] was an homage to Foster, taken from a ''Prince Valiant'' strip.<ref name="cbr189" /> [[Wally Wood]] was "obsessed" with Foster's work, and began copying his newspaper strips at the age of two.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://heroinitiative.blogspot.jp/2010/06/tragic-genius-wally-wood.html |title=Tragic Genius: Wally Wood |last=McLauchlin |first=Jim |date=June 30, 2010 |website=[[The Hero Initiative]] |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref> [[Frank Frazetta]] called Foster's work on ''Tarzan'' "perfection, a landmark in American twentieth-century art that will never be surpassed."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fritzfrazetta.blogspot.jp/2011/09/frazetta-and-hal-foster.html |title=Frazetta and Hal Foster |last=Winiewicz |first=Dave |date=September 21, 2011 |website=Frazetta |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref> Among the many other artists who have cited Foster as an important influence are [[Carl Barks]],<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Carl-Barks-Conversations-Comic-Artists/dp/1578065011 Carl Barks : Conversations]</ref> [[Steve Ditko]],<ref>Goode, Gregory (Nov 2, 2009)"Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man, is 82 today". [[Examiner.com]]</ref> [[Mark Schultz (comics)|Mark Schultz]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aprincenamedvaliant.blogspot.jp/2011/03/mark-schultz-on-art-of-hal-foster.html |title=Mark Schultz on the Art of Hal Foster |last=Schultz |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Schultz (comics) |date=March 8, 2011 |website=A Prince Named Valiant |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref> [[William Stout]],<ref name="Vol4 tcj">{{cite web |url=http://www.tcj.com/reviews/prince-valiant-volume-4-1943-1944/ |title=Prince Valiant, Volume 4: 1943-1944 |last=Seneca |first=Matt |date=October 18, 2011 |website=[[The Comics Journal]] |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref> [[Bill Ward (cartoonist)|Bill Ward]],<ref>[[Bill Ward (cartoonist)|Ward, Bill]]. [http://www.billwardarchive.info/bio.html "Autobiography"]. ''Bill Ward Archive''</ref> and [[Al Williamson]].<ref name="Vol4 tcj" /> Williamson, who met Foster on a few occasions, described him as "a very stern gentleman, very stern, no nonsense. You could never call him Hal or Harold, it's Mr. Foster. ... you don't see that kind of people anymore, the ones that really command your respect."<ref>{{cite news | last = Zimmerman | first = Dwight Jon | date = November 1988 | title = Al Williamson | work = [[Comics Interview]] | issue = 62 | page = 59 | publisher = [[Fictioneer Books]]}}</ref>

==Awards==
Foster won The Silver Lady Award (The Artists and Writers Association, 1952); the Gold Medal Award (Parent’s Magazine, 1954); the Golden Lion Award (Burroughs Bibliophiles, 1967); the Alley Award (Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences, 1967, 1968 & 1969); the Adamson Award (Swedish Academy of Comic Art, 1969); the Ignatz Award (OrlandoCon, 1974); the Inkpot Award ([[San Diego Comic-Con]], 1977); and the Sondermann Award (Frankfurt Book Fair, 2008). Foster was also recognized for his work by the [[National Cartoonists Society]] with the [[Reuben Award]] in 1957, Silver T-Square Award (1975), Gold Key Award (1977), Elzie Segar Award (1978), Best Story Strip plaque (1964, 1971, 1974, 1976 & 1978), and Special Feature plaque (1966 & 1967), all for ''[[Prince Valiant]]''. A rare honor came in 1965, when Foster was made a [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts]] (FRSA) in London, a first for any American cartoonist. More than any other cartoonist or illustrator, Foster is in five artistic Halls of Fame: The National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame (1977), The Museum of Cartoon Art Hall of Fame (1977), The [[Eisner Award|Will Eisner Award]] Hall of Fame (1996), and the [[Joe Shuster Awards|Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creators]] Hall of Fame (First Annual, 2005, accepted on behalf of the family by writer-artist [[Dave Sim]], a longtime admirer of Foster's work.<ref>[http://www.reuben.org/ncs/awards.asp National Cartoonists Society Awards]</ref>), and the [[Society of Illustrators]]' Hall of Fame (2006).<ref>{{Citation | publisher = BPIB | url = http://www.bpib.com/illustra2/foster.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010214023120/http://www.bpib.com/illustra2/foster.htm | url-status = usurped | archive-date = February 14, 2001 | last = Kane | first = Brian | title = Foster | type = biography}}.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* [[Bill Blackbeard|Blackbeard, Bill]]. "Artist of the Absurd", ''Tarzan in Color. Vol. 1. 1931–1932'' New York: Flying Buttress Classics Library. {{ISBN|1-56163-049-7}}
* {{Citation | last = Kane | first = Brian M | title = Hal Foster: Prince of Illustrators | publisher = Vanguard Productions | ISBN = 1-887591-25-7 | year = 2001 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/halfosterprinceo0000kane }}
* {{Citation | last = Kane | first = Brian M | title = The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion | publisher = Fantagraphics Books | year = 2009 | ISBN = 978-1-60699-305-7}}

==External links==
* {{Citation | url = http://davekarlenoriginalartblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/buried-treasure-hal-fosters-medieval.html | contribution = Buried treasure: Hal Foster’s The Medieval Castle | first = David ‘Dave’ | last = Karlen | title = Original art blog | date = February 1, 2009}}
* {{gcdb|type=credit|search=Hal+Foster|title=Hal Foster}}
* {{Citation | url = http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/f/foster_hr.htm | publisher = Syracuse University | title = Digital guides | contribution= Hal Foster Papers 1937–1973}}
* [https://archivesspace.amherst.edu/repositories/2/resources/5 Cullen Murphy (AC 1974) Prince Valiant Comic Collection] at the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections

{{Prince Valiant}}
{{Canadian cartoonists}}
{{Inkpot Award 1970s}}
{{Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Hal}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian writers]]
[[Category:American comics artists]]
[[Category:American comics writers]]
[[Category:Artists from Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:Canadian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Canadian comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:Inkpot Award winners]]
[[Category:Reuben Award winners]]
[[Category:People from Redding, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Prince Valiant]]
[[Category:Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Writers from Halifax, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Writers of modern Arthurian fiction]]