| Hans Waldemar Wessolowski | |
| Birth Date: | 19 August 1894 |
| Birth Place: | Graudenz, German Empire |
| Death Place: | Norwalk, Connecticut |
| Style: | Science fiction, pulp fiction |
Hans Waldemar Wessolowski (August 19, 1894 – May 12, 1948) was a German-American artist best known under the pseudonym "Wesso" for his many cover illustrations for pulp magazines in the 1930s and early 1940s.
Hans Waldemar Wessolowski was born August 19, 1894,[1] in the city of Graudenz in the German Empire (now part of Poland).[2] He had a brother and a sister. He studied art at the Royal School of Art in Berlin, worked as a commercial artist, and found his first permanent position at the satire magazine Simplicissimus. By early 1914, he was living in Hamburg.[3]
Blind in one eye, Wessolowski was rejected for military service. Anxious to see the world, he joined the German merchant navy, taking a job as a crew member on the SS in May 1914.[4] Dissatisfied with the hard work required, he jumped ship in New Orleans, Louisiana, in June 1914.[5] He became a naturalized American citizen a year later.
Wessolowski took up residence in Kansas City, Missouri. He became a commercial artist in 1916,[6] working for the Ferry Hanly Advertising Company as well as for companies such as the Union Bank Note Company, the Burger-Braid Engraving Company.[7] When the United States entered World War I, he registered for military service but was never drafted.[8]
By 1927, Wessolowski was living in New York City. He received his first freelance commission as an illustrator in December of that year. His work accompanied the short story "The Apple Tree Sage" by Manuel Komroff in McClure's magazine.[9] He received three more commissions from McClure's, and in the summer of 1928 began working for Clayton Magazines, a major publisher of pulp magazines. His first work for Clayton appeared on the cover of Clues: A Magazine of Detective Stories in July 1928. He provided covers for Air Adventures, The Danger Trail, and Three Star Magazine in October, and added work for Adventure Tails, Brief Stories, Complete Detective Novel Magazine, World Stories, and All Star Detective Stories over the next 18 months.[10]
He got his first job as a science fiction and fantasy pulp cover artist when editor T. O'Conor Sloane hired him in September 1929 to draw the cover for Amazing Stories. Wesso had never heard of science fiction before. Late in 1929, editor Harry Bates hired him to draw the cover for the first issue of Astounding Stories, which had a cover date of January 1930. He drew the covers for Astounding Stories every month until Howard V. Brown took over cover art duties in October 1933. He created 34 covers for the magazine.[11]
Wessolowski also drew covers for another Clayton Magazine effort, Strange Tales beginning in September 1931.
His covers were brightly colored and eye-catching. He was particularly proficient at drawing monsters, and less so at depicting advanced technology. His human figures are distinctive, thin, and sharp-featured. They invariably show strained muscles and extended limbs. The proportions of his humans are oddly distorted, with sunken chests, peculiarly large thigh muscles, and elongated limbs. As Frank R. Paul was the best and primary illustrator for science fiction and fantasy magazines published by Experimenter Publishing and Ziff Davis, Wesso became the key artist for similar pulps issued by Clayton Magazines. He spent anywhere from two days to a week on a cover, occasionally using toys as models for his work.
He signed his work "Wesso", and it is this name that is most commonly cited when his art is given credit.
Wesso ceased to work for pulps after the collapse of Clayton Magazines, only returning in 1937 when he drew the cover for the June 1937 Astounding Stories (now owned and published by Street & Smith) and the August 1937 cover of Thrilling Wonder Stories (published by Better Publications).
Editor Hugo Gernsback tried to hire Wesso as a cover artist for Amazing Stories, but the artist refused to accept the low fee Gernsback offered.
In 1940, Wesso joined the New York Daily News as a staff artist.[12] He ceased working for pulp magazines after 1942, except for the occasional commission.
Hans Wessolowski married Minnie Isabella Ross on May 18, 1918. They lived in Kansas City until at least 1925, then resided in New York City. Some time before 1940, they moved to Fairfield, Connecticut.[13]
Hans Wessolowski died at the age of 53 at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, on May 12, 1948.[14] [15] His wife survived him; they had no children.
"In Graudenz (das heute zu Polen gehört) 1894 geboren, begann er seine Karriere beim legendären Müncher Satiremagazin,,Simplicissimus'', nachdem er an der Königlichen Akademie Belin sein Handwerk gelernt hatte. Durch sein fehlendes Auge werde er vom Militärdiesnt befruit — verspürte aber nach geraumer Zeit doch eine unstillbare Abenteuerlust und ging zur deutchsen Handelsmarine. Des harten Dienstes überdrüssig, sprang er 1912 in der Nähe von New Orleans uber Bord and schwamm an Land. Schon 1913 gelang ihm die Einbürgerung, under er wurde amerikanischer Staatsbürger."
"Als letzten Wohnsitz in Deutschland gab er Hamburg an."
"mutlich als Besatzungsmitglied — mit der Fürst Bismarck in New Orleans an."
"Hans Wessolowski erst einen Monat später, im Juni 1914, in die USA. Er war angeblich In New Orleans vom Schiff ins Wasser gesprungen und an Land geschwommen."
"Wessolowski ging nach Missouri, Also Beruf fab er dort bereits 1916 'artist an."
"In Kansas City war Wessolowski als 'commercial artist', als Werbegrafiker, gemelder und fur die Union Bank Note Company, di Burger-Braid Engraving Company und die Ferry Hanly Advertising Company tätig."
"1917, also die USA in den Ersten Weltkrieg eintraten, wurde er in Kansas City für den Militärdienst registriert, aber nicht eingezogen."
"Im Dezember 1927 trat er erstmals also freischaffender Zeichner in Erscheinung und illustriarte für McClure's Magazine 'The Apple-Tree Saga' von Manuel Komroff. ... Vermutlich lebte Wessolowski do schon in New York."
"Es folgten Aufträge für Clues Detective Stories, Air Adventures, The Danger Trail, Three Star Magazine und Wide World Adventures und andere Pulp-Magazine, wie die auf billigem Papier gedruckten Hefte genannt wurden. Seine ersten Pulp-Titelbilder malte Wessolowski 1928 für die Oktober-Ausgaben von Air Adventures und Danger Trail aus dem Verlag von William Clayton."
"Am 18 Mai 1918 heiratete er die gut vier Jahre ältere Minnie Isabella Ross, die aus der Ortschaft Milo 150 Kilometer südlich von Kansas City stammte. Noch 1925 war das Paar in Kansas City gemeldet. Vor der Volkszahlung 1930 zogen die Wessolowskis nach New York um. Zwischen 1935 und 1940 veließ das Paar die Stadr wieder und ließ sich in Fairport, Connecticut, nieder."