Space art
Space art, also known as astronomical art, is a genre of art that visually depicts the universe through various artistic styles. It may also refer to artworks sent into space.
The development of space art was closely linked to advancements in telescope and imaging technology, which enabled more precise observations of the night sky. Some space artists work directly with scientists to explore new ways to expand the arts, humanities, and cultural expressions relative to space. Space art may communicate ideas about space, often including an artistic interpretation of cosmological phenomena and scientific discoveries.
For many decades, visual artists have explored the topic of space using traditional painting media, followed recently by the use of digital media for the same purpose. Science-fiction magazines and picture essay magazines were some of the first major outlets for space art, often featuring planets, spaceships, and dramatic alien landscapes. Chesley Bonestell, R. A. Smith, Lucien Rudaux, David A. Hardy, and Ludek Pesek were some of the artists actively involved in visualizing topics such as space exploration and colonization in the early days of the genre. Astronomers and experts in rocketry also played roles in inspiring artists in this genre.
NASA’s second administrator, James E. Webb, created the space agency's Space Art program in 1962, four years after its inception. Bonestell's work in this program often depicted various celestial bodies and landscapes, highlighting both the destinations and the imagined technologies used to reach them.
Astronomical art
Astronomical art is a genre of space art that focuses on visual representations of outer space. It encompasses various themes, including the space environment as a new frontier for humanity, depictions of alien worlds, representations of extreme phenomena like black holes, and artistic concepts inspired by astronomy.Astronomical art emerged as a distinct genre in the 1940s and 1950s. Chesley Bonestell was recognized for his skills in addressing perspective challenges and creating visual representations of astronomical concepts. Contemporary artists continue to contribute to the visualization of ideas within the space community, such as depicting theoretical capabilities for interstellar travel and illustrating hypothetical deep-space phenomena.
Astronomical art is the most recent of several art movements that have explored ideas emerging from the ongoing exploration of Earth. Finding its roots in genres such as the Hudson River School or Luminism, most astronomical artists use traditional painting methods or digital equivalents in a way that brings the viewer to the frontiers of human knowledge gathered in the exploration of space. Such works usually portray things in the 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 experiences. Another would be to hear of an astronomical concept, and then seek out published articles or experts in the field. Usually, there is an artistic effort to emphasize the favourable visual elements, just as a photographer composes a picture. Notable astronomical art often reflects the artist's interpretation and imagination regarding the subject portrayed.
Science fiction magazines such as Fantasy and Science Fiction, Amazing, Astounding, and Galaxy were platforms for space and astronomical art in the 1950s. Picture essay magazines of the time, such as Life, Collier's, 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. The NASA fine arts program has been an ongoing effort to hire artists to create works generally specific to a particular space project. The program documents historical events in recognizable form for professional artists. The NASA Fine Arts Program operated in an era of forward progress under its first head director, James Dean. Even then, pictorial realism seemed a subset rather than a dominant visual influence.
The works that 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 for documentation. Much of which appeared in contemporary Life magazines. Most of today's widely published space and astronomical artists have belonged to the International Association of Astronomical Artists since 1983.
Photography
The first photographs of the entire Earth by satellites and crewed Apollo missions brought a new sense of Earth and promoted ideas of the unity of humanity. Photographs taken by explorers on the Moon evoked the experience of being in another world. The Pillars of Creation taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and other Hubble photos often evoke intense responses from viewers; for example, Hubble's planetary nebula images.File:The Day The Earth Smiled - Preview.jpg|thumb|right|The Day the Earth Smiled. Earth can be seen underneath Saturn's rings as a pale spec.
Artistry
Artists have experienced free-fall conditions during flights flown with NASA, the Russian and French Space Agencies, and the Zero Gravity Arts Consortium. Early efforts by artists to have art pieces placed in space have already been accomplished with painting, holography, micro-gravity mobiles, floating literary works, and sculpture.History
Early examples of space art are depictions of celestial bodies in ancient artifacts. The 'Land Grant to Ḫunnubat-Nanaya Kudurru,' a Babylonian limestone artifact from the 12th century BC, features early representations of Venus, the lunar crescent, and the solar disk.Albrecht Altdorfer's painting The Battle of Issus shows the curvature of the Earth from a great height. Galileo's sketches of the Moon from the Sidereus Nuncius were published among other early descriptions of the Moon's topography. In 1711, Donato Creti painted a series of astronomers viewing other planets of the Solar System through a telescope to interest the Vatican in establishing an astronomical observatory.
19th century
In the early 1870s-1900s, Étienne Léopold Trouvelot published a series of Chromolithographs of his pastels of astronomical subjects.In 1874, James Carpenter and James Nasmyth's work The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite included photographs of sculpted models of Lunar features, in the marked vertical exaggeration of the actual relief of the Moon.
In 1877, Paul Dominique Philippoteaux and engraver Laplante illustrated Jules Verne's story Off on a Comet, including an imaginative view looking up at the rings of Saturn from the planet itself.
20th century
In 1918, Howard Russell Butler deliberately made use of the dynamic range of human vision in painting a total eclipse based on direct observation.In 1927, Scriven Bolten created lunar landscape images for the Illustrated London News using painted photos of plaster models.
In 1937, Lucien Rudaux painted many works for Sur Les Autres Mondes.
In 1944, Chesley Bonestell's paintings of Saturn seen from its different moons appeared in Life magazine, introducing astronomical art to a wide American audience. Books featuring Bonestell's art include The Conquest Of Space, The Exploration Of Mars, and Life's The World We Live In.
The second Hayden Planetarium Symposium on Space Travel, held in New York in October 1952, resulted in a series of widely read space flight articles in Collier's magazine, illustrated by Bonestell and others.
In 1963, Ludek Pesek's paintings filled the large volumes of The Moon And the Planets, and the 1968 volume Our Planet Earth-From The Beginning.
The 1980 Cosmos PBS television show and book used the work of many space artists. Host Carl Sagan used such art in several of his books.
During the 20th century, it became possible for artists to progress from using space as their subject, to using space as a site. The 1986 Eiffel Tower Competition invited artists to design artworks that could be launched into orbit, where they would be visible to the naked eye on Earth. Though these projects were not realised, the competition paved the way for later art satellites such as Trevor Paglen's Orbital Reflector. The launch of inhabited space stations also created new opportunities for artists to engage directly with space, as in Arthur Woods's Cosmic Dancer, a sculpture that was deployed on the Mir Space Station in 1993.