Week 9: Space + Art

If you took a moment to look back at human history, you’d soon realize that space exploration has just started. Yet, artists have been pondering, imagining, and producing artwork concerning the heavens for thousands of years. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

We can trace back the beginnings of “space art” as far back as the novel “Off on a comet” by Jules Verne in 1877. While the book itself was remarkable in its own right, it featured a painting by Paul Philippoteaux wherein Saturn was imagined as a physical landmark in space as opposed to the previous notions of a set of points of light in the night sky.


Figure 1. Paul Philippoteaux, Saturn, 1877.

Years later in 1937, French artist and astronomer Lucien Rudaux wrote and published a book that captured his idea of planet surfaces. The book wasn’t entirely accurate but nevertheless captured the attention of Chesley Bonestell, acclaimed father of astronomical art and special effects artist, in Hollywood. Using the book as inspiration, he designed several paintings about space, planets, and such, so much so that he inspired other iconic artist personalities at the time. Especially impressive here is the way one artist inspired another, and another, and so on to ultimately innovate and produce mind-blowing works of art.

In an effort to emotionally capture the new era of space exploration, NASA administrator James Webb began the fine-arts program to record the nation’s experience with space exploration. The program was started with the express purpose of having great value for future generations and making an extraordinary contribution to American art history.

Figure 2. Andy Warhol, Moonwalk 1, 1987.

Webb’s mission has continued to date with the program heavily focusing on conceptual art, animation and photography based on scientific knowledge.

The common theme in the examples above is bringing space to art, but what of the reverse? Believe it or not, the famous spacecrafts, Voyager 1 and 2, carried with them two golden records full of art. Shockingly, the two spaceships are still travelling through space today, extending the record for the farthest man-made objects from earth each second. More relevant is the art aboard; two golden disks containing images and music for any extra-terrestrials that may be roaming about. One can only imagine how an alien would react to whale noises.

Figure 3. J Marshall, Voyager Golden Records.

Humans have always been capable of imagination beyond capability and that is, in my opinion, the key to reaching the stars.

Works Cited

Degard, Degard. “Space and Art: Humanity Is Spacefaring.” Astropolitics, vol. 19, no. 3, 2021, pp. 165–205., https://doi.org/10.1080/14777622.2021.1993067.

Ferris, Timothy, and Anthony Lydgate. “How The Voyager Golden Record Was Made.” The New Yorker, 20 Aug. 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/voyager-golden-record-40th-anniversary-timothy-ferris.

Hays, Kathryn, et al. “Creativity and Cognition in Extreme Environments: The Space Arts as a Case Study.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 11, 2020, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.575291.

Lydick, Kelly. “Anthony Michael Morena: The Art and Artifacts of Space.” Guernica, 24 Oct. 2016, https://www.guernicamag.com/anthony-michael-morena-the-art-and-artifacts-of-space/.

Marshall, J. “Voyager Golden Records.” Smithsonian Magazine, Tribaleye Images, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-is-on-voyagers-golden-record-73063839/. Accessed 14 Apr. 2022.

McBride, Kelly. “The Fine Art of the Space Age.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 26 Jan. 2004, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/01/26/the-fine-art-of-the-space-age/7cc42266-2de1-4b98-8ca2-5706ce92155a/.

Miller, Ron. “The Planet Artists: Chesley Bonestell, Lucien Rudaux, and Ludek Pesek.” Tor.com, 14 Dec. 2014, https://www.tor.com/2011/09/26/the-planet-artists-chesley-bonestell-lucien-rudaux-and-ludek-pesek/.

Philippoteaux, Paul. "Saturn". 1877.

Verne, Jules. Off on a Comet! Mint Editions, 2021.

Warhol, Andy. Moonwalk 1. NASA, 1987.

Comments

  1. Paravi DasMay 28, 2022 at 9:11 PM

    Hi! What an informative and intriguing post - I was especially interested in your point about the two golden records filled with art carried on Voyager 1 and 2, a fact I was surprised to learn! The idea of using art to communicate with extraterrestrial beings that might stumble upon it is almost heartwarming; the idea of humans trying to bestow the highest order of human connection (art) onto non-human creatures. Wow! I wonder if this idea is used elsewhere in other space projects? Was this a one-off idea, only sealed for Voyager 1 and 2? What if we updated these art pieces aboard, would that lessen the value of the project itself, combining authentic art and space? Just some food for thought!

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