This remarkable gouache pulp cover painting by Alex Schomburg appeared on the February, 1961 issue of the long running Ziff-Davis magazine Amazing Stories – Fact And Science Fiction. Though the work seems like pure fantasy at first glance, it is based on the real-life practice of both the American and Soviet space programs of sending mice, dogs, chimpanzees and animals into space to test the effects of space travel on living beings prior to the first manned flights out of Earth’s orbit. This scene in particular is a humorous imagining of what might happen should one of these chimpanzees crash land on the moon.  The improbable scene is described in an editorial on page 5 of the published magazine; we included a scan of that text below.

The comic book legend Stan Lee said that “Alex Schomburg was to comic art what Norman Rockwell was to The Saturday Evening Post.” The artist today is perhaps most celebrated by comic book fans for his action-packed superhero and airbrushed “good girl” covers done during the Golden Age. In addition to his comic book art, Schomburg is also remembered for his stellar science fiction scenes, done for pulps, digests, magazines, and children’s books.

Work is handsomely framed under UV glass and a high grade edition of the published pulp magazine is included in the sale.