I recently picked up these three pieces of original dinosaur art. I feel so happy and lucky to have these and really wanted to share so forgive the so-so photos. They are unsigned but I think by the same artist and I believe date to ca. 1970-75. The small one is a Nothosaurus and measures 22.5 x 16.5 cm. The middle one measures 30.5 x 30.5 cm and features six dinosaurs. The large one, a tour de force managing to fit 15 dinosaurs on the paper, measures 51.5 x 36 cm. After looking at them for a while it occurred to me that they seemed familiar. Spoiler Now I'm not positive, but I think they are by the same artist that did the header and backing cards for the Marushin dinosaur series sofubi. These are two header cards and an open backing card from the large size vinyls. These are three headers from the small size toys. Check out the similarities between the middle size painting and the backing card especially the Allosaurus and the overall composition. and the Edaphosaurus from the middle and large size paintings. I would love to hear people's opinions on this. Are they by the same artist or is someone copying someone else's style? Also, these most likely were used as illustrations in a boy's magazine and I would like to track down copies. If anyone has any leads please post them here or pm me. Also post your vintage dinosaur illustrations from books or magazines here. Thanks!
@Mark K - wonderful pieces of art, congrats on the find. The style definitely looks the same. A very nice addition to your collection. Also, a great idea for a thread.
If the middle and last one were done by the same artist it would of been done after going through an atelier or a school with a good illustration program because it's done at a much higher level in a more difficult medium. The middle one was probably referenced from the header or they had a common reference. It's possible the header referenced the 2nd image if it was in a magazine and changed things up with a better technical background and Japanese flavor, but I doubt it would of been in anything popular. It's hard to say without having some of the vintage dinosaur illustration books to flip through. Maybe someone who is older and was into dinosaurs back in the day can pinpoint the origin. The interesting thing about the Edaphosaurus is that the skeletons and most illustrations I'm seeing show many strands while all of these pictures have about 12. I'd bet there is a common reference especially since the third and most skilled one looks placed in as an afterthought and is obviously referenced even though the skill level is much higher than both. If there isn't any I bet the guy who did the header looked at a skeleton/western reference that has many strands and just simplified it. If that's the case the 2nd image is a poor interpretation of it, and he used that to reference in the 3rd piece assuming the 3 originals you have are by the same person. The tissue in the mid body is the same between the 2nd and third along with the tail compared to the header. The chances that the person who did the middle original also did the header is close to zero. I'm not an art historian though, so I'm just guessing based on the extremely limited information you gave.
Thank you for the insights. I'd love to hear more opinions. For what it's worth, all the dinosaurs illustrated in the original pieces were also produced as sofubi by Marushin.
As a kid (way back in the early 70s), I used to have a book with very similar illustrations. I will have to dig for it (if I still have it) and verify if it is the same artist and illustrations. However, it is likely that these were left at my parents' house and were subsequently sold or tossed when they moved.
This is among the first Prehistoric related art that I saw and was aware, I loved Dinosaurs. I was age 2, my older brother got them as a gift for his birthday. It was 1973 and when I look at this art today, even after oceans of time; still fantastic. Wonder where the original art is of if it even still exists? The whole header card from this staple of Dinosaurs toys is wonderful and I will try to post more photos later or tomorrow.