Jack Kamen
Encyclopedia
Jack Kamen was an illustrator
from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial
. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn
, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty. When Kamen attended classes at the Art Students League
and the Grand Central Art School, he paid for his studies by painting theatrical scenery, decorating fashion mannequins and creating sculptures.
Kamen began a career as an illustrator for Western and detective pulp magazine
s when he was called into the Army
in 1942. After World War II
, he started drawing comic book
s for Fiction House
and Iger Associates, eventually getting assignments from EC Comics
to illustrate romance comics. He became one of the most prolific EC artists, drawing crime, horror, humor, suspense and science fiction stories, and was known for his drawings of attractive women. Describing Kamen's understated style, EC editor Al Feldstein
said, "We gave Kamen those stories where the All-American girl and guy are married, and then chop each other to pieces." After EC's line of comics fell victim to industry censorship in 1954–55, it was Kamen who suggested to the publisher that the company could avoid the newly imposed Comics Code Authority
strictures with a pricier magazine format, which Kamen dubbed "Picto-Fiction". However, EC's woes followed the new line of Picto-Fiction titles, including Kamen's favorite, Psychoanalysis
. The magazines were underdistributed, and were soon canceled.
After leaving EC, Kamen began drawing Sunday supplement illustrations and creating advertising art for a wide variety of clients: Esquire Shoe Polish
, Mack Trucks
, Pan American Airlines
, Playtex
, RCA
, Smith Corona
and Sylvania
. He also drew all the comic book artwork for Stephen King
and George A. Romero
's 1982 horror anthology film Creepshow
, King and Romero's homage to the EC horror comics. Although the bulk of the artwork for the graphic novel
adaptation of the film was done by acclaimed macabre
artist Berni Wrightson (along with his daughter who did some of the coloring), Jack Kamen illustrated the cover.
He is also the creator of the logo for his son Dean's FIRST
program.
Kamen's eldest son Barton was Director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey
, as well as a Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
, and is now the Chief Medical Officer of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. His middle son Dean Kamen
is the inventor of the Segway
and the iBOT Mobility System
. Mitch and Terri are twins and the youngest of the four children. Mitch is a musician in NY and his only daughter Terri is owner and General Manager of S&K Insurance Advisors, a very successful insurance agency in Palm Beach County, Fl. Bart's daughter Libby is Jack and Evelyn's only grandchild. She is currently a college student and a graduate of Dean's FIRST Robotics
program.
Kamen died at his home in Boca Raton on August 5, 2008 from causes related to cancer.
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
from Brooklyn, New York. His first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial
Texas Centennial Exposition
The Texas Centennial Exposition was a World's Fair held at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Texas's independence from Mexico in 1836. More than 50 buildings, for which "George Dahl was director general of a group of architects who designed the buildings ", were...
. He studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn
Harvey Dunn
Harvey Thomas Dunn was an American painter. He is best known for his prairie-intimate masterpiece, The Prairie is My Garden. In this painting, a mother and her son and daughter are out gathering flowers from the quintessential prairie of the Great Plains.-Early life:Dunn was born on a homestead...
, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. McNulty. When Kamen attended classes at the Art Students League
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
and the Grand Central Art School, he paid for his studies by painting theatrical scenery, decorating fashion mannequins and creating sculptures.
Kamen began a career as an illustrator for Western and detective pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
s when he was called into the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in 1942. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he started drawing comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s for Fiction House
Fiction House
Fiction House is an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. Its comics division was best known for its pinup-style good girl art, as epitomized by the company's most popular character, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.-History:-Jumbo and Jack...
and Iger Associates, eventually getting assignments from EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
to illustrate romance comics. He became one of the most prolific EC artists, drawing crime, horror, humor, suspense and science fiction stories, and was known for his drawings of attractive women. Describing Kamen's understated style, EC editor Al Feldstein
Al Feldstein
Albert B. Feldstein is an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. Since retiring from Mad, Feldstein has concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife...
said, "We gave Kamen those stories where the All-American girl and guy are married, and then chop each other to pieces." After EC's line of comics fell victim to industry censorship in 1954–55, it was Kamen who suggested to the publisher that the company could avoid the newly imposed Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
strictures with a pricier magazine format, which Kamen dubbed "Picto-Fiction". However, EC's woes followed the new line of Picto-Fiction titles, including Kamen's favorite, Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis (comics)
Psychoanalysis was a short-lived comic book published by EC Comics in 1955, the fifth title in its New Direction line. The bi-monthly comic was published by William Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein. Psychoanalysis was approved by the Comics Code Authority, but newsstands were reluctant to display it...
. The magazines were underdistributed, and were soon canceled.
After leaving EC, Kamen began drawing Sunday supplement illustrations and creating advertising art for a wide variety of clients: Esquire Shoe Polish
Esquire Shoe Polish
Esquire Shoe Polish of Williamsburg by the company Knomark was the best selling shoe polish brand in America from the 1940s to 1960's. It was owned by Revlon....
, Mack Trucks
Mack Trucks
Mack Trucks is an American truck-manufacturing company and a former manufacturer of buses and trolley buses. A wholly owned subsidiary of Renault Véhicules Industriels since 1990, Mack Trucks is currently a subsidiary of AB Volvo. The company's headquarters are located in Greensboro, North Carolina...
, Pan American Airlines
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...
, Playtex
Playtex
Playtex and PlayTex are a brand and trademark. It used to be associated with bras and women's undergarments. Currently there are two separate companies with the Playtex name....
, RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
, Smith Corona
Smith Corona
Smith Corona or the SCM Corporation is a US typewriter and calculator company. Once a large U.S. manufacturer, the company experienced sales declines in typewriters in the mid-1980s due to the introduction of PC-based word processing...
and Sylvania
Sylvania Electric Products
Sylvania Electric Products was a U.S. manufacturer of diverse electrical equipment, including at various times radio transceivers, vacuum tubes, semiconductors, and mainframe computers...
. He also drew all the comic book artwork for Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
and George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
's 1982 horror anthology film Creepshow
Creepshow
Creepshow is a 1982 American horror anthology film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King. The film's ensemble cast included Ted Danson, Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook, E.G...
, King and Romero's homage to the EC horror comics. Although the bulk of the artwork for the graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
adaptation of the film was done by acclaimed macabre
Macabre
In works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....
artist Berni Wrightson (along with his daughter who did some of the coloring), Jack Kamen illustrated the cover.
He is also the creator of the logo for his son Dean's FIRST
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one.First or 1st may also refer to:* First , minor summit below the Schwarzhorn in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland* First , mountain in Bernese Alps in Switzerland...
program.
Kamen's eldest son Barton was Director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey
Cancer Institute of New Jersey
The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is a cancer treatment and research institution in New Brunswick, New Jersey. CINJ is one of only 41 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation designated by the National Cancer Institute and the only one in New Jersey....
, as well as a Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is a public medical school located in Piscataway and New Brunswick, New Jersey, and one of the eight schools of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey . In cooperation with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the medical school’s principal...
, and is now the Chief Medical Officer of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. His middle son Dean Kamen
Dean Kamen
Dean L. Kamen is an American entrepreneur and inventor from New Hampshire.Born in Rockville Centre, New York, he attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, but dropped out before graduating after five years of private advanced research for drug infusion pump AutoSyringe...
is the inventor of the Segway
Segway PT
The Segway PT is a two-wheeled, self-balancing transportation machine invented by Dean Kamen. It is produced by Segway Inc. of New Hampshire, USA. The name "Segway" is a homophone of "segue" while "PT" denotes personal transporter....
and the iBOT Mobility System
IBOT
The iBOT is a very stable and mobile powered wheelchair developed by Dean Kamen in a partnership between DEKA and Johnson and Johnson's Independence Technology division. It is a medical technology, made to help people with severe mobility problems....
. Mitch and Terri are twins and the youngest of the four children. Mitch is a musician in NY and his only daughter Terri is owner and General Manager of S&K Insurance Advisors, a very successful insurance agency in Palm Beach County, Fl. Bart's daughter Libby is Jack and Evelyn's only grandchild. She is currently a college student and a graduate of Dean's FIRST Robotics
FIRST Robotics Competition
The FIRST Robotics Competition is an international high school robotics competition organized by FIRST. Each year, teams of high school students compete to build robots weighing up to , not including battery and bumpers, that can complete a task, which changes every year...
program.
Kamen died at his home in Boca Raton on August 5, 2008 from causes related to cancer.