Werner Ruhner – Der Purpurne Planet

Ok, this post I’ve put together with the help of Tommi Bren over at the excellent http://www.houdinination.de/ an excellent online archive of science fiction literature.

The above images are taken from the 1971 German Sci-Fi Novella “Der Purpurne Planet” (The Purple Planet) Illustrations are from excellent Werner Ruhner, whom I confess to knowing little about! though very much like his style… Fortunately, Tommi has helped with some translation, and here’s a little bit more on Werner via German Wiki:

Werner Ruhner born 27 May 1922 in Meerane, Sachsen, Germany – According to the very short entry at Wikipedia, he is or was an assistant at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (where the artists Neo Rauch and Peter Piller teach, for example). In former East Germany, Ruhner was among the busiest illustrators for a variety of genres, science fiction (Verlag Neues Leben Berlin) among them. He allegedly lives in Borsdorf near Leipzig.

Tommi also adds that finding information on German / East German Illustrators isn’t always that easy as not many really made it big. Kelly Freas being the most prominent exception…

Scans via http://www.houdinination.de/