Illustrator, graphic novelist, and educator Barron Storey (b. 1940) began his career as a commercial artist in the 1960s. Studying under Robert Weaver at the School of Visual Arts, Storey’s career took off with such notable clients as Boys’ Life, Reader’s Digest, and National Geographic. His most iconic images are now part of the collection of multiple prestigious museums. His cover portraits of Howards Hughes and Yitzhak Rabin for TIME magazine hang in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, his famous painting of the Amazon rainforest can be found at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, and his 1979 portrayal of NASA’s space shuttle is part of the Air and Space Museum on the National Mall collection. In addition to his editorial work, Storey created the iconic images for several book covers, most notably the 1980 reissue of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. His work for graphic novels includes his Eisner-award winning work on Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: Endless Nights (DC/Vertigo) as well as Barron Storey’s WATCH Magazine (Vanguard), and his novel Life After Black. In 2001, Storey was awarded the Society of Illustrators’ Distinguished Educator in the Arts award for his years of service and influence at the California College of the Arts, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and San Jose State University.
Image credit:
Barron Storey
Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding
Mixed media on board
Perigee Books/ The Berkley Publishing Group, 1980.