Maurice Bramley archive, approximately 1933-1970 / Maurice Bramley
- Bib ID:
- 8630147
- Format:
- Picture
- Author:
- Bramley, Maurice, artist
- Related Online Resources:
- Finding aid at National Library of Australia
- Description:
-
- approximately 1933-1970
- 306 drawings : pencil, pen, ink, watercolour, acrylic ; 62.6 x 49.7 cm or smaller.
- 328 photographs : black and white ; 25.4 x 20.8 cm or smaller, + other related materials.
- Summary:
-
This collection of works by Maurice Bramley includes original sketches for magazine covers, comic book covers and short pulp fiction filler stories. Bramley was the primary illustrator for Horwitz Publications, which dominated the Australian comic book market with U.S. reprints of popular war and western titles in the 1950s and Marvel superhero titles in the 1960s. The collection includes the original sketch for Kid Colt, Outlaw – Six guns dig for Gold! Issue no. 121 and sketches for commercial publications such as a small feature on the development of the airline industry. The collection provides an insight into the skilled draughtsmanship of Bramley and more broadly the production of commercial imagery for publication in mid-century Australia. The stories and illustrations also capture the particular sentiments of the popular Australian market. The collection also includes newspaper clippings with examples of Bramley’s published work, official movie studio photographs most likely used as inspiration for his illustrations, and copies of seventeen comic books from the 1960s.
- Biography/History:
-
Commercial illustrator Maurice Bramley was a prolific and influential figure in the mid-century local Australian pulp fiction and comic book industry. Born in New Plymouth, New Zealand in 1898, Bramley migrated to Australia in the mid-1920s. Settling in Sydney, he commenced his career as a commercial illustrator during the 1930s. Working principally for Sun Newspapers, Bramley applied his meticulous draughtsmanship to numerous magazine covers, including The World’s News. In 1943 Bramley created the ‘Join Us in a Victory Job’ poster for the Department of National Service, drawing upon his experience illustrating women’s magazines to convince women to enlist in service.
Bramley commenced work for the Transport Publishing Company (later Horwitz Publishing Company) in the mid-1940s and transitioned his main practice to comic book illustration after the publication of Sun Newspapers’ magazines ceased in the mid-1950s. Established by Stanley Horwitz after returning from military service in 1945, Horwitz Publishing Company dominated the post-war comic book market, publishing reprints of American westerns, war and crime comic books with Bramley as their principal cover artist. Bramley relocated to Tuross Head, New South Wales in the 1950s and worked on covers and short filler stories for titles such as Frogman, Navy Combat and The Phantom Commando, often using local residents as models for his characters. He is arguably the first Australian artist to draw the ‘new wave’ of Marvel Comic superheroes for reprints during the mid-1960s including well-known characters such as Iron Man, Thor and The Incredible Hulk--Information from accompanying acquisitions documentation.
- Notes:
- Title from acquisitions documentation.
- Source of Acquisition:
- Donated by Annabel Eglitis, 2022.
- Subject:
- Terms of Use:
- Copyright restrictions may apply.
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Artistic
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 1970
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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