DOLD, (William) Elliott (Jr)

(1892-1957)

   US illustrator, son of noted psychiatrist William Elliott Dold (1856-1942) and younger brother of Douglas DOLD. ED studied art at the College of William and Mary in Virginia to 1912, and with his brother joined the Serbian army in 1915. Although his 44 Art Deco drawings for Harold HERSEY's Night (1923) are perhaps his finest work, ED is now best remembered for his interior ILLUSTRATIONS for the early sf PULP MAGAZINES, also in an Art Deco idiom. Using only black and white (with virtually no greys), he was a master at depicting looming, massive, superbly detailed and intricate MACHINES that dwarfed their human operators, whom he depicted with relative indifference. ED contributed to ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION 1934-8, and was one of that magazine's finest interior illustrators; his illustrations for its serialization of E.E. "Doc" SMITH's Skylark of Valeron (1934 ASF; 1949) are considered classics. He edited, did colour covers and wrote a lead story for Hersey's short-lived MIRACLE SCIENCE AND FANTASY STORIES (1931). His last sf appearances were in 1941, when he painted covers for COSMIC STORIES and STIRRING SCIENCE STORIES.

   RB/JG

   See also: ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION.