A Chesley Bonestell Space Art Chronology

Chesley Bonestell has been called the "Father of Space Art." His photorealistic paintings of the Moon and planets, and other worlds beyond, have awed us since they were first published, over half a century ago. Moreover, he showed, long before Gagarin or Glenn, what it would be like for humans to explore the vastness of space. As author Howard E. McCurdy has written in his book, Space and the American Imagination: "No artist had more impact on the emerging popular culture of space in America than Chesley Bonestell. . . . Through his visual images, he stimulated the interest of a generation of Americans and showed how space travel would be accomplished." Considering his great influence on both the public interest in space flight and the actual development of a national space program, it is therefore both surprising and unfortunate that, heretofore, there has not been available a bibliography documenting those places where Bonestell's art appeared in print. This book fills that void. Written in cooperation with the artist's widow and his estate managers, A Chesley Bonestell Space Art Chronology contains well over 700 entries and is the definitive reference guide to publications containing Bonestell's space art. In praise of it, the illustrator Vincent Di Fate says: "This entertaining and scholarly work is an invaluable and indispensable treasure for the vast legions of Bonestell's fans. [T]houghtful, engrossing and utterly thorough . . . [it] provides the cosmic ride of a lifetime."

"Your conception of outer space has probably been influenced by...Bonestell's surrealist paintings of other-planetary scenes, which caused a sensation when Life first published...them....His vivid imaginings...were used as the visual basis for several...science fiction movies....More than 300...works appear....Rediscover this influential artist, whose success has been credited with stoking public support for the U.S. space program.""--Booklist. ""Will appeal to any lover of fine art."" --Fantasy & Science Fiction."

The story of unmanned space exploration, from Viking to today Dreams of Other Worlds describes the unmanned space missions that have opened new windows on distant worlds. Spanning four decades of dramatic advances in astronomy and planetary science, this book tells the story of eleven iconic exploratory missions and how they have fundamentally transformed our scientific and cultural perspectives on the universe and our place in it. The journey begins with the Viking and Mars Exploration Rover missions to Mars, which paint a startling picture of a planet at the cusp of habitability. It then moves into the realm of the gas giants with the Voyager probes and Cassini's ongoing exploration of the moons of Saturn. The Stardust probe's dramatic round-trip encounter with a comet is brought vividly to life, as are the SOHO and Hipparcos missions to study the Sun and Milky Way. This stunningly illustrated book also explores how our view of the universe has been brought into sharp focus by NASA's great observatories—Spitzer, Chandra, and Hubble—and how the WMAP mission has provided rare glimpses of the dawn of creation. Dreams of Other Worlds reveals how these unmanned exploratory missions have redefined what it means to be the temporary tenants of a small planet in a vast cosmos.

This volume was first published by Inter-Disciplinary Press in 2016. This volume comprises numerous academic papers concerning essential subjects in relation to fear, horror and terror, from cinematic representations and their subsequent responses, to first person accounts of terror by way of literature and journalism. Key scholars are employed to develop these important research areas as they provide new insights into cultural experiences and evaluations of fear, horror and terror, and their consequent analysis. Contributors also explore cross-cultural fear, the memorialisation of violence, and female experiences of fear represented through literature, theatre, and cinema. Valuable research is also demonstrated by way of the conceptualisation and management of fear, including the control of public fear in relation to mental illness, along with significant insights concerning depictions of sexual violence, the concept of the sublime in relation to the visualisation of the universe, and the relationship between scales of fright and the bulk of the on-screen monster.

The Art of Space is the most comprehensive celebration of space art ever to be published, profiling the development of space-based art in a variety of media. In The Art of Space, award-winning artist and best-selling author Ron Miller presents over 350 high-quality and often photorealistic images that chart how artists throughout history, working with the knowledge and research available during their time, have endeavored to construct realistic images of visions throughout the universe. Beginning with depictions of space ships, unmanned probes, and space stations, Miller moves through collections that also illustrate the planets, moons, galaxies, and stars; cities, colonies, and space habitats; and possible alien life. The artwork presented here has been created in a variety of media, from the woodcuts and oil paintings of the Victorian and Edwardian eras to the digitally enhanced work of contemporary artists. Each chapter also includes two special features: one profile of an artist or group of artists of particular influence and one sidebar discussion of general cultural topics, such as the use of space art for propaganda purposes during the Cold War or the impact of the digital revolution on the resources available to artists. A fascinating study on the intersection of science and the artistic imagination, The Art of Space shows how astronomy and space travel has been reflected in popular art and public perception over the past two centuries. With forewords from Carolyn Porco and Dan Durda, this book is the ultimate resource for space art fans.

Tells the story of the building of the American Museum of Natural History and Hayden Planetarium, a story of history, politics, science, and exploration, including the roles of American presidents, New York power brokers, museum presidents, planetarium directors, polar and African explorers, and German rocket scientists. The American Museum of Natural History is one of New York City’s most beloved institutions, and one of the largest, most celebrated museums in the world. Since 1869, generations of New Yorkers and tourists of all ages have been educated and entertained here. Located across from Central Park, the sprawling structure, spanning four city blocks, is a fascinating conglomeration of many buildings of diverse architectural styles built over a period of 150 years. The first book to tell the history of the museum from the point of view of these buildings, including the planned Gilder Center, The American Museum of Natural History and How It Got That Way contextualizes them within New York and American history and the history of science. Part II, “The Heavens in the Attic,” is the first detailed history of the Hayden Planetarium, from the museum’s earliest astronomy exhibits, to Clyde Fisher and the original planetarium, to Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and it features a photographic tour through the original Hayden Planetarium. Author Colin Davey spent much of his childhood literally and figuratively lost in the museum’s labyrinthine hallways. The museum grew in fits and starts according to the vicissitudes of backroom deals, personal agendas, two world wars, the Great Depression, and the Cold War. Chronicling its evolution―from the selection of a desolate, rocky, hilly, swampy site, known as Manhattan Square to the present day―the book includes some of the most important and colorful characters in the city’s history, including the notoriously corrupt and powerful “Boss” Tweed, “Father of New York City” Andrew Haswell Green, and twentieth-century powerbroker and master builder Robert Moses; museum presidents Morris K. Jesup, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Ellen Futter; and American presidents, polar and African explorers, dinosaur hunters, and German rocket scientists. Richly illustrated with period photos, The American Museum of Natural History and How It Got That Way is based on deep archival research and interviews.

Where did humanity get the idea that outer space is a frontier waiting to be explored? Destined for the Stars unravels the popularization of the science of space exploration in America between 1944 and 1955, arguing that the success of the US space program was due not to technological or economic superiority, but was sustained by a culture that had long believed it was called by God to settle new frontiers and prepare for the inevitable end of time and God’s final judgment. Religious forces, Newell finds, were in no small way responsible for the crescendo of support for and interest in space exploration in the early 1950s, well before Project Mercury—the United States’ first human spaceflight program—began in 1959. In this remarkable history, Newell explores the connection between the art of Chesley Bonestell—the father of modern space art whose paintings drew inspiration from depictions of the American West—and the popularity of that art in Cold War America; Bonestell’s working partnership with science writer and rocket expert Willy Ley; and Ley and Bonestell’s relationship with Wernher von Braun, father of both the V-2 missile and the Saturn V rocket, whose millennial conviction that God wanted humankind to leave Earth and explore other planets animated his life’s work. Together, they inspired a technological and scientific faith that awoke a deep-seated belief in a sense of divine destiny to reach the heavens. The origins of their quest, Newell concludes, had less to do with the Cold War strife commonly associated with the space race and everything to do with the religious culture that contributed to the invention of space as the final frontier.