Richard Bergeron
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Richard Bergeron was a fan artist and fanzine publisher, who first became active in the 1950s. He lived in New York City and Puerto Rico.
He attended the New England School of Art and professionally was an artist for an advertising agency. His professional work seemed to incorporate photographs of objects as much as or even more than original illustration. The January 1962 issue of Art Direction had a review of sorts of his professional work: "Impact plus taste characterize much of Dick Bergeron's work. Oversize watches, pills, ears, big type plus a quiet handling of text blocks give his design a combined sense of drama and careful organization." His professional work was displayed in the 1961 and 1962 shows of the New York Art Directors Club.
His fan art had a distinctive style, somewhat abstract and surreal and was far removed from the structured illustration he did professionally. Dick Eney thought that Bergeron saw his fan art "as a way to relax after a hard day of being realistic and representational."
His greatest contribution to fandom was Warhoon, one of the best fanzines of the 1960s which was circulated in SAPS (of which Bergeron served a term as President.) True to his commercial art style, Warhoon didn't use fancy layouts or typography; he concentrated on content over form, keeping to a somewhat spartan design.
If Warhoon was his greatest contribution, the greatest issue of Warhoon was Warhoon 28, a massive, 614-page, hardcover, impeccably-mimeographed compilation of the fannish writing of Walt Willis -- an astonishing feat which is unlikely ever to be equaled. (One well-known fan called it "the best issue of a fanzine ever published.")
While he was a major BNF, he was always somewhat eccentric, being known for rarely being willing to meet other fans face-to-face. Perhaps this contributed to the feuds he became engaged in in the mid-80s with many of his friends. These feuds, and especially the divisive TAFF Wars of which he was a major participant, led to his self-destruction as a fan and subsequent gafiation.
Other fanzines included Serenade, Vox, and Wiz.
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