Astronomical art
Encyclopedia
Astronomical art is the aspect of Space art
devoted to visualizing the wonders of outer space
. A major emphasis of such art is the space environment as a new frontier for Humanity. Many other works portray alien worlds, extremes of matter such as black hole
s, and concepts arising from inspiration derived from astronomy
.
Astronomical art was largely pioneered in the 1940s and 50s by the abilities of Chesley Bonestell
to solve formidable perspective problems, paint with the eye of a master matte artist
to create a realistic visual impression, and to seek out the greatest experts in the fields which fascinated him. His work helped inspire many in the post war era to think about space travel, which seemed fantastic before the V-2 rocket
. To this day numerous artists assist in bringing ideas into presentable form in the space community, both in portraying the latest ideas on how to leave Earth and in showing wonders awaiting us out there.
Astronomical Art is the most recent of several art movements which have explored the inspirational ideas emerging from ongoing exploration of Earth, (Hudson River school
, or Luminism
) the distant past, (ancient history and prehistoric animal art) and finally the steadily revealed universe. Most Astronomical artists use traditional painting methods or digital equivalents in a way which brings the viewer to the frontiers of human knowledge gathered in the exploration of space. Such works usually portray things in the familiar visual language of realism extrapolated to exotic environments whose details reflect ongoing knowledge and educated guesswork. An example of the process of creating astronomical art would be studying and visiting desert environments to experience something of what it might be like on Mars, and painting based on such experience. Another would be to hear of something likely to be amazing to watch close up, then seeking out published articles or experts in the field. Usually there is an artistic effort to emphasize the favorable visual elements just as a photographer composes a picture. The best astronomical art shares with the viewer what it is that catches the artists imagination about the subject portrayed.
Science Fiction magazines such as Fantasy and Science Fiction, Amazing, Astounding (later renamed Analog), and Galaxy served as a major outlet for the work of space and particularly astronomical artists in the 1950s.The several picture essay magazines of the time such as Life, Colliers, and Coronet were other major outlets for such art. Today astronomical art can be seen in magazines such as Sky and Telescope, The Planetary Report and occasionally in Scientific American. Individual web sites are by far the best place to see such work today. The NASA fine arts program has been an ongoing effort to hire artists to create works generally specific to a particular space project. This page is primarily devoted to what has traditionally been the most successful aspect of this program, the documenting of historical events in recognizable form by professional artists. The NASA Fine Arts Program operated in the era of seemingly unlimited progress at the time of the first head of that program, James Dean, although even then pictorial realism seemed a subset rather than a dominating visual influence.
The works which document space flight situations such as those referenced above are similar in concept to government efforts during World War II to send artists to battle zones to document things as they saw it, much of which appeared in contemporary Life magazines.
Another close parallel to Astronomical art is Dinosaur art. Both art schools explore unreachable realms with the intent to bring a sense of reality to them. The 'Grand Masters' of that field such as Charles R. Knight
and Zdeněk Burian
worked with experts in the field, using the best available information to create a realistic vision of something we can never behold with our own eyes. Ideally, as with Astronomical art, such a work tries to show what is known about the subject, with some educated guesswork to fill in the unknown and unknowable. We see more recent works by a healthy number of great dinosaur artists which reflect the growth in knowledge in body stances and likely feathers, etc. just as we see alien landscapes now painted which reveal the gathered knowledge instead of the craggy fantasies and the 'blue sky' Mars of yesteryear. Most of today's widely published space and astronomical artists have belonged since 1983 to the International Association of Astronomical Artists
Space art
Space art is a general term for art emerging from knowledge and ideas associated with outer space, both as a source of inspiration and as a means for visualizing and promoting space travel. Whatever the stylistic path, the artist is generally attempting to communicate ideas somehow related to...
devoted to visualizing the wonders of outer space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
. A major emphasis of such art is the space environment as a new frontier for Humanity. Many other works portray alien worlds, extremes of matter such as black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
s, and concepts arising from inspiration derived from astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
.
Astronomical art was largely pioneered in the 1940s and 50s by the abilities of Chesley Bonestell
Chesley Bonestell
Chesley Bonestell was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings were a major influence on science fiction art and illustration, and he helped inspire the American space program...
to solve formidable perspective problems, paint with the eye of a master matte artist
Matte (filmmaking)
Mattes are used in photography and special effects filmmaking to combine two or more image elements into a single, final image. Usually, mattes are used to combine a foreground image with a background image . In this case, the matte is the background painting...
to create a realistic visual impression, and to seek out the greatest experts in the fields which fascinated him. His work helped inspire many in the post war era to think about space travel, which seemed fantastic before the V-2 rocket
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
. To this day numerous artists assist in bringing ideas into presentable form in the space community, both in portraying the latest ideas on how to leave Earth and in showing wonders awaiting us out there.
Astronomical Art is the most recent of several art movements which have explored the inspirational ideas emerging from ongoing exploration of Earth, (Hudson River school
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
, or Luminism
Luminism (American art style)
Luminism is an American landscape painting style of the 1850s – 1870s, characterized by effects of light in landscapes, through using aerial perspective, and concealing visible brushstrokes...
) the distant past, (ancient history and prehistoric animal art) and finally the steadily revealed universe. Most Astronomical artists use traditional painting methods or digital equivalents in a way which brings the viewer to the frontiers of human knowledge gathered in the exploration of space. Such works usually portray things in the familiar visual language of realism extrapolated to exotic environments whose details reflect ongoing knowledge and educated guesswork. An example of the process of creating astronomical art would be studying and visiting desert environments to experience something of what it might be like on Mars, and painting based on such experience. Another would be to hear of something likely to be amazing to watch close up, then seeking out published articles or experts in the field. Usually there is an artistic effort to emphasize the favorable visual elements just as a photographer composes a picture. The best astronomical art shares with the viewer what it is that catches the artists imagination about the subject portrayed.
Science Fiction magazines such as Fantasy and Science Fiction, Amazing, Astounding (later renamed Analog), and Galaxy served as a major outlet for the work of space and particularly astronomical artists in the 1950s.The several picture essay magazines of the time such as Life, Colliers, and Coronet were other major outlets for such art. Today astronomical art can be seen in magazines such as Sky and Telescope, The Planetary Report and occasionally in Scientific American. Individual web sites are by far the best place to see such work today. The NASA fine arts program has been an ongoing effort to hire artists to create works generally specific to a particular space project. This page is primarily devoted to what has traditionally been the most successful aspect of this program, the documenting of historical events in recognizable form by professional artists. The NASA Fine Arts Program operated in the era of seemingly unlimited progress at the time of the first head of that program, James Dean, although even then pictorial realism seemed a subset rather than a dominating visual influence.
The works which document space flight situations such as those referenced above are similar in concept to government efforts during World War II to send artists to battle zones to document things as they saw it, much of which appeared in contemporary Life magazines.
Another close parallel to Astronomical art is Dinosaur art. Both art schools explore unreachable realms with the intent to bring a sense of reality to them. The 'Grand Masters' of that field such as Charles R. Knight
Charles R. Knight
Charles Robert Knight was an American artist best known for his influential paintings of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals...
and Zdeněk Burian
Zdenek Burian
Zdeněk Michael František Burian was a Czech painter and book illustrator whose work played a central role in the development of palaeontological reconstructions during a remarkable career spanning five decades...
worked with experts in the field, using the best available information to create a realistic vision of something we can never behold with our own eyes. Ideally, as with Astronomical art, such a work tries to show what is known about the subject, with some educated guesswork to fill in the unknown and unknowable. We see more recent works by a healthy number of great dinosaur artists which reflect the growth in knowledge in body stances and likely feathers, etc. just as we see alien landscapes now painted which reveal the gathered knowledge instead of the craggy fantasies and the 'blue sky' Mars of yesteryear. Most of today's widely published space and astronomical artists have belonged since 1983 to the International Association of Astronomical Artists
Historic Influences
| 1301 | Giotto di Bondone painting The Adoration of the Magi includes a comet in the sky, believed to indicate the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1301 |
| 1416 | Limbourg brothers Limbourg brothers The Limbourg brothers, or in Dutch Gebroeders van Limburg , were famous Dutch miniature painters from the city of Nijmegen. They were active in the early 15th century in France and Burgundy, working in the style known as International Gothic... in the Duc Du Berry manuscript Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry or simply the Très Riches Heures is a richly decorated book of hours commissioned by John, Duke of Berry, around 1410... includes what may be the earliest attempt at a realistic portrayal of the night sky, complete with zipping meteors. |
| 1515 | Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since... publishes the first known perspective drawing of Earth as a globe. |
| 1529 | Albrecht Altdorfer Albrecht Altdorfer Albrecht Altdorfer was a German painter, printmaker and architect of the Renaissance era.-Biography:Altdorfer was born in Regensburg or Altdorf around 1480.... painting Battle of Issus is probably the earliest painting to show the curvature of the Earth from a great height. |
| 1711 | Donato Creti Donato Creti Donato Creti was an Italian painter of the Rococo period, active mostly in Bologna.Born in Cremona, he moved to Bologna, where he was a pupil of Lorenzo Pasinelli. He is described by Wittkower as the "Bolognese Marco Benefial", in that his style was less decorative and edged into a more formal... paints a series of astronomers of the time under views of the planets through a telescope, to interest the Vatican in establishing an astronomical observatory. |
| 1858 | Comet Donati Comet Donati Comet Donati, or Donati's Comet, formally designated C/1858 L1 and 1858 VI, is a long-period comet named after the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Donati who first observed it on June 2, 1858. After the Great Comet of 1811, it was the most brilliant comet that appeared in the 19th century. It... was recorded in numerous paintings of the time |
| 1874 | James Carpenter James Carpenter James Carpenter was a British astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.During the 1860s he performed the first observations of stellar spectra at the observatory, under the direction of the Astronomer Royal George Airy... and James Nasmyth James Nasmyth James Hall Nasmyth was a Scottish engineer and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company manufacturers of machine tools... The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite contains photographs of sculpted models of Lunar features, influential to future space artists in the marked vertical exaggeration Vertical exaggeration Vertical exaggeration is a scale that is used in raised-relief maps, plans and technical drawings . The exaggeration is used to emphasize vertical features, which might be too small to identify relative to the horizontal scale.... of the actual relief of the Moon. |
| 1870s | Étienne Léopold Trouvelot Étienne Léopold Trouvelot Étienne Léopold Trouvelot was a French artist, astronomer and amateur entomologist. He is most noted for the unfortunate introduction of the Gypsy Moth into North America.... publishes series of Chromolithographs of his pastels of astronomical subjects. |
| 1877 | Paul Dominique Philippoteaux and engraver Laplante illustrate Jules Verne Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days... 's story Off on a Comet Off On A Comet Off on a Comet is an 1877 science fiction novel by Jules Verne.-Plot summary:The story starts with a comet that touches the Earth in its flight and collects a few small chunks of it. Some forty people of various nations and ages are condemned to a two-year-long journey on the comet. They form a... , including an imaginative view looking up at the rings of Saturn from the planet itself. |
| 1918 | Howard Russell Butler Howard Russell Butler Howard Russell Butler was an American painter and founder of the American Fine Arts Society. Butler also persuaded Andrew Carnegie to fund the construction of Carnegie Lake near Princeton University. Butler also designed a mansion, an astronomy hall and painted a solar eclipse for the U.S. Naval... deliberately makes use of the dynamic range of human vision in painting a total eclipse based on direct observation. |
| 1927 | Scriven Bolten creates Lunar landscape images for the Illustrated London News Illustrated London News The Illustrated London News was the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper; the first issue appeared on Saturday 14 May 1842. It was published weekly until 1971 and then increasingly less frequently until publication ceased in 2003.-History:... using painted photos of plaster models |
| 1937 | Lucien Rudaux Lucien Rudaux Lucien Rudaux was a French artist and astronomer, who created famous paintings of space themes in the 1920s and 1930s.A crater on Mars and the Lucien Rudaux Memorial Award were named in his honor.-References:... paints many works for Sur Les Autres Mondes |
| 1944 | Chesley Bonestell Chesley Bonestell Chesley Bonestell was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings were a major influence on science fiction art and illustration, and he helped inspire the American space program... paintings of Saturn seen from its different moons appears in Life magazine Life (magazine) Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name.... , introducing astronomical art to a wide American audience. Books featuring Bonestells art include The Conquest Of Space (1949), The Exploration Of Mars (1956) and Lifes The World We Live In (1955) |
| 1952 | Second Hayden Planetarium Hayden Planetarium The Hayden Planetarium is a public planetarium, part of the Rose Center for Earth and Space of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, currently directed by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson.... Symposium on Space Travel, held in New York in October 1952, resulted in a series of widely read space flight articles in Colliers magazine illustrated by Bonestell and others |
| 1963 | Ludek Pesek paintings fill the large volumes The Moon And the Planets, and the 1968 volume Our Planet Earth-From The Beginning |
| 1980 | Cosmos Cosmos: A Personal Voyage Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is a thirteen-part television series written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, with Sagan as presenter. It was executive-produced by Adrian Malone, produced by David Kennard, Geoffrey Haines-Stiles and Gregory Andorfer, and directed by the producers, David... PBS television show and book uses the work of many space artists. Sagan used such art in several of his books. |
Astronomical art related books
- Space Art Ron Miller Starlog Magazine
- Visions of Space David A. Hardy Paper Tiger 1989
- Worlds Beyond: The Art of Chesley Bonestell Ron Miller & Frederick C. Durant, III
- Star Struck: One Thousand Years of the art of Science and Astronomy Ronald Brashear Daniel Lewis 2001 Univ. of Washington Press
- Futures: 50 Years in Space David A. Hardy & Patrick Moore AAPPL 2004
External links
- International Association of Astronomical Artists
- Ron Millers' definitive web site on Chesley Bonestell
- David A. Hardy's AstroArt site
- Astronomical Illustrations of Fahad Sulehria
- "Dreams of Space" An archive of art in children's books
- Don Davis Space Art
- numerous space art site links
- Don Dixon SpaceScapes
- Mark A. Garlick's Space and Astronomical Art
- Brian Smallwood Space Art
- Alizey Khan Space Art