ERICH HARTMANN - Book & Print Portfolio

The final release in Robert Taylor’s Icons of Flight Series

All good things eventually must come to an end, and what a way to conclude Robert Taylor’s Icons of Flight series than with this dramatic compilation dedicated to the highest-scoring fighter Ace of all time – Erich Hartmann – officially published on what would’ve been his 100th birthday.

Collectors around the world applauded when the Icons of Flight series opened with a masterful piece dedicated to Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, and they have not been disappointed by those that followed. With works depicting some of the greatest aviators of the twentieth century, this highly-popular series has featured such fighter legends as the RAF’s Douglas Bader and Johnnie Johnson, the Mighty Eighth’s Chuck Yeager and Robin Olds, together with the formidable wartime leaders Arthur Harris, Jimmy Doolittle and Adolf Galland. Pioneering designer Barnes Wallis of course attracted huge attention and this final release featuring Erich Hartmann will no doubt do the same because, credited with 352 victories, he was by far the highest-scoring fighter pilot of all time. And one of the most highly decorated; awarded the Diamonds to his Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, Hartmann was one of only 27 German military personnel awarded that prestigious honour.

19 April 2022 marks what would’ve been Hartmann’s 100th birthday and seems a fitting occasion to mark the end of this memorable series. At the heart of this latest composition is Robert’s iconic drawing Sting of the Black Tulip, a masterful work portraying the legendary pilot with his distinctive Black Tulip painted on the nose of his Bf109. The scene is set high above the Eastern Front on 7 July 1943 as he scores the first of seven victories that day. Matted alongside is a completely separate yet matching-numbered portrait of Hartmann in the cockpit of his Bf109 'Ursel'.

Both drawings have been meticulously reproduced as high quality fine art Giclée prints on museum quality archival velvet paper. It’s the next step that marks these particular Giclée prints out as revolutionary – it’s now Robert Taylor who takes charge of proceedings, transforming each print into an individual work of art through the delicate application of subtle embellishments, elegant highlights and refined tonal applications of muted colour wash. Only then, when he is entirely satisfied with the finished result, does Robert title and caption each work before signing and hand-numbering each of these individual and unique pieces.

Only 25 of this memorable edition are available worldwide. Each pair of drawings is exquisitely matted to full conservation standards in a single composition that includes an ORIGINAL and fully-authenticated autograph of the legendary man himself;

Oberst ERICH HARTMANN Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords & Diamonds, 352 victories – the highest-scoring Ace in history