Out of this World: the art of Josh Kirby
Artwork for the cover for the Panther Books edition (mid-1950s) of the book by Major PJ Pretorius. Probably also painted in the mid-1950s.
Jungle Man was the posthumous biography (1948) of South African hunter, explorer and military man PJ Pretorius, who fought for the Allies in WW1. Smuts, writer of the foreword, was a prominent South African statesman and military leader. It has not been possible to date the edition for which this artwork was produced, but if the date for Kirby’s I Was a Headhunter is correct, the artwork’s technical and stylistic similarities suggest a mid-1950s date.
Used with the permission of the Trustees of the Josh Kirby Estate.