John Berkey’s Very Rare NATURE ART

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A Berkey prelim of an not-yet-found painting:

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1995 Santa’s Christmas Storybook

I have found 39 of Berkey’s SPORTS AFIELD covers/illustrations

The dates range from 1967 to 1978

(This was a real challenge because when I started my hunt all I had was 3 of the issue dates! I had to track down all the rest…)

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John Berkey’s 1st painting for SPORTS AFIELD!

The January 1967 SPORTS AFIELD cover

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I finally got a copy of the 1978 Fishing Annual

This may have been Berkey’s final painting for Sports Afield — it took me a year and a half to acquire a copy of this issue, but I finally got one the week before Thanksgiving Day 2011!

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John Berkey’s Squirrels

This 1967 SPORTS AFIELD came out when I was 17 — and I never saw it (or any of the other of Berkey’s SPORTS AFIELD art) until 2008-2010 — so it took me 40 years to see them!!!! (I started collecting John Berkey’s art in 1976 when he did all of his KING KONG posters and STAR WARS in 1977, and I never knew he was doing all these nature paintings or calendar work for Brown & Bigelow in the ’50s and ’60s)….

SPORTS AFIELD November 1971:

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Berkey’s super-rare 1968 & 1970

SPORTS AFIELD Annuals!!

No other website has posted these wonderful paintings, and they have undoubtably not been seen by any Berkey fan in 40 years!!!

BELOW: On the contents page they would print a small black & white version of the issue’s cover without any of the lettering, so we can more-or-less see the “entire” paintings…

BELOW: 1972 Annual

Berkey’s gorgeous 1973 Fishing Annual cover:

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I think it’s safe to say that no SF fan

of Berkey’s art has seen any of these

nature paintings in 30-40 years!

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March 1970 issue of SPORTS AFIELD — an extremely nice double-page illustration!

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November 1973 SPORTS AFIELD…

Here’s a neat pic…

John Berkey’s 1973 reference photo of his son Brian posing with his BB gun!

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Berkey’s Feb 1968 SPORTS AFIELD Grizzly painting

A prelim of this painting:

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January 1968

BELOW: The yellowed/deteriorated original art of this 1968 sailfish cover!…

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July 1971 SPORTS AFIELD:

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January 1971 SPORTS AFIELD:

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A rather “shocking” cover for SPORTS AFIELD October 1969:

BELOW: Was this the “photo reference” for the above painting? This pic was in the January ’69 issue…

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Berkey’s March 1975 cover

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BELOW: This is an illustration from the Nov. 1964 SPORTS AFIELD by one of my long-time favorite artists HARRY ANDERSON — both he and John Berkey had somewhat “similar” art styles, and if you’d like to see more about Harry Anderson, go to HarryAndersonArt.com 

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January 1969 SPORTS AFIELD

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SPORTS AFIELD February 1970

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SPORTS AFIELD December 1971:

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SPORTS AFIELD August 1971:

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SPORTS AFIELD October 1972:

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SPORTS AFIELD August 1970:

ABOVE: This is what these pages looked like in the magazine — someone had cut up several pages — so I did my best to touch it up with Photoshop:

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SPORTS AFIELD Feb 1972 prelim & cover:

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Berkey’s October 1967 SPORTS AFIELD:

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September 1967 SPORTS AFIELD:

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Berkey’s 1989 EDDIE BAUER Catalog Cover:

It’s prelim:

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SPORTS AFIELD May 1968

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May 1969

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SPORTS AFIELD Nov 1968…

The prelim:

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SPORTS AFIELD Sept 1968…

AN INTERESTING OBSERVATION ABOUT JOHN BERKEY’S SIGNATURE ON THE ABOVE 2 PAINTINGS — HE SIGNED THEM IN A WAY I’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE! HE SIGNED THEM “J.BERKEY”

One of its prelims:

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Berkey’s “impressionistic” Bluefin Tuna from the June 1973 SPORTS AFIELD

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SPORTS AFIELD May 1970

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February 1975 SPORTS AFIELD

(3 interior illustrations)

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OTHER NATURE PAINTINGS

BELOW: A couple of extremely rare & “semi-lost” nature paintings…

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This Berkey Snow Barn original sold on eBay for $300 in Sept. 2010 — and in January 2011 it was sold again on eBay for $504!

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4 Berkey Art Prints

Here are 4 art prints that were published
by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY in 1982!

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