From Booklist
Like many other professional fellowships, the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists (ASFA) gives out best-of-the-year awards in several categories. At first, they were called the ASFA Awards, but the year after their first bestowal, Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986) died. When next awarded in 1987, they were renamed in honor of that artist, whose breathtaking, realistic paintings of space exploration (see Ron Miller's Art of Chesley Bonestell, 2001) inspired plenty of artists as well as future astronauts. This album showcases most of the Chesley winners through 2002, including, most importantly, perhaps, small portfolios of the overall Achievement Award winners' work. This strain of illustrative art--most of it done for books and magazines--represents the last and, fortunately, probably permanent stand of romantic realism. In it, color is rich and luscious, lineation is varied and intricate, masses are bold and tactile, composition and perspective are dramatic and imposing. It descends from eighteenth-century history painting, through Ingres and Delacroix and the Hudson River Valley and Brandywine schools of American painters. It aims to stun, rarely fails, and at the hands of the latest Achievement Award winner, Donato Giancola, it just gets more stunning. No collection with sf and fantasy in it should make do without it. Ray Olson
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Book Description
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Presenting the best of science fiction and fantasy art from the past 17 years, a true collector's item beautifully produced on high-quality paper. Established by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, and named for the renowned painter, Chesley Bonestell, the annual Chesley Awards are bestowed by the practitioners themselves, and so carry a high level of prestige. Here are works magical and mysterious, terrifying and haunting, dreamlike and imaginative beyond belief. Among the remarkable people highlighted: Bob Eggleton, Jean Pierre Targette, Rick Berry, Kinuko Y. Craft, and dozens of other magnificent illustrators.

"This visually stunning work belongs in every collection of sf and fantasy art."--Library Journal

"It aims to stun [and] rarely fails."--Booklist

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Nearly two decades of the best in the Art of the Fantastic. The annual Chesley Awards, voted on by ASFA (the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists), recognize the very finest work in the field. In this important and sumptuously beautiful retrospective, complete with well over 300 illustrations and full documentation of winners and nominees, the roster of artists reads like a who's who of modern fantasy art.

SYNOPSIS

Presenting the best of science fiction and fantasy art from the past 17 years, beautifully produced on high-quality paper. Established by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, and named for the renowned painter, Chesley Bonestell, the annual Chesley Awards are bestowed by the practitioners themselves, and so carry a high level of prestige. Among the remarkable artist's highlighted: Bob Eggleton; Jean Pierre Targette; Rick Berry; Kinuko Y. Craft; dozens of others.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal