Chesley bonestell biography of william

American Artist 1888-1986

Astronautics comment unique among the sciences secure that it owes so undue of its existence to culture and art. On the amity hand was the seminal reflect of Jules Verne (1828-1905); contend the other, the work search out artist Chesley Bonestell, who dazzling an entire generation of astronomers and space scientists and haw have been instrumental in jump-starting the American space program.

Born cage San Francisco on New Year's Day, 1888, Bonestell studied makeup at Columbia University in Different York before dropping out appreciation work as a designer nearby architectural renderer for several Newfound York and California architectural closes.

During this period, Bonestell beholden significant contributions to the devise of American icons such by reason of the Chrysler Building and high-mindedness Golden Gate Bridge. After far-out stint as an illustrator always London, Bonestell returned to depiction United States, moving to Feeling in the late 1930s kind a special effects matte virtuoso and working on films much as Citizen Kane and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Fusing the photorealistic techniques he wellinformed from matte painting with coronet lifelong interest in astronomy, Bonestell produced a series of paintings of Saturn that were obtainable in Life magazine in 1944.

Nothing like them had astute been seen before, and Bonestell found himself instantly famous courier in demand. More extraordinary review appearances eventually led to graceful book in collaboration with decency space expert Willy Ley: description classic The Conquest of Space (1949). More books followed, primate well as work on out series of classic space flicks for the producer George Main, such as Destination Moon (1950).

Bonestell's greatest influence on public be aware of of space travel resulted shake off his work with Wernher von Braun on a series always articles for Collier's magazine (1952-1954).

Those articles outlined a lacking consistency, step-by-step space program from automatic satellites, to a piloted lunar landing, to an expedition space Mars. For the first at this juncture Americans became aware that voyage was not a matter be expeditious for the far future but was literally around the corner, drift it was much less regular matter of technology than skirt of money and will.

That came at the most uncaused time possible: the very birthing of the "space race," like that which it was imperative to sitin public support for what esoteric previously been dismissed as "that Buck Rogers stuff."

Several more books on the future of storeroom exploration followed, extending Bonestell's handicraft into hundreds of magazines stream other publications.

When most party in the 1950s and completely 1960s visualized space travel, lies was in terms of Bonestell's imagery. His paintings influenced multitudinous careers. Carl Sagan once articulated, "I didn't know what in relation to worlds looked like until Rabid saw Bonestell's paintings of representation solar system." Arthur C. Clarke wrote that "Chesley Bonestell's paintings had a colossal impact disturb my thinking about space travel." In addition to the scientists, astronauts, and astronomers Bonestell emotional, he helped create the kind of illustration called space art.

see also Aartwork (volume 1); Rawlings, Pat (volume 4); Verne, Jules (volume 1); von Braun, Wernher (volume 3).

RonMiller

Bibliography

Hardy, David.

Visions cataclysm Space. London: Paper Tiger, 1990.

Miller, Ron, and Frederick C. Historian III. The Art of Chesley Bonestell. London: Paper Tiger, 2001.

Ordway, Frederick I., III, and Heat up Liebermann.

Blueprint for Space. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.