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The Exploration of Space by Artists
and Writers Throughout history, artists have traditionally accompanied explorers on many of the great voyages of scientific and geographic discovery. Space exploration is the greatest voyage of discovery ever undertaken and artists have been at the forefront from the beginning. Before the flight of the first aeroplane, before the launch of
the first rocket, both literature and art began the exploration
of space and have progressed ever since. From the first use of
the telescope in 1610, astronomers recorded what they observed
by making drawings. The first science-fiction novel written by
a scientist was by the German astronomer Art and literature about space have not only been an integral part of space exploration since its beginnings, they have also played a vital role in its development as well. The primary way of introducing the general public to ideas about space exploration has been the fictional images and scenarios created by visual artists and writers. Such artists and writers lay the foundation which makes future space activities understandable by the general public. Stimulating the public's imagination and excitement about space exploration has also helped to secure the necessary political and financial support for the national civilian space programmes. Indeed, science-fiction films are arguably the most popular and financially successful art forms of all time. Many space scientists and engineers began their careers in the pages of a science-fiction novel or in seats at the movie theatre. In the past 50 years of space exploration, artists have helped these space professionals to visualise their plans and projects and to give form to their developing technologies. Inspired by the beauty and wonder of the cosmos and by the implications of humankind leaving its ancestral home planet, today artists are creating new art forms and techniques appropriate to human expansion in this new environment. Some have already realised artistic projects beyond Earth's atmosphere and others are gaining experience in weightlessness with parabolic flights. As the images in this brochure attest, this new generation of artistic space explorers are busy preparing their art, themselves and the public for the greatest voyage of discovery ever undertaken. More Info: www.itsf.org |
Johannes Kepler in 1615.
Called "Somnium", it is a tale about a voyage to the
Moon and acknowledges that the Earth's atmosphere does not extend
infinitely. In 1870, Emile Bayard illustrated Jules Verne's "Around
the Moon", a sequel to his classic novel "From the Earth
to the Moon", with woodcut illustrations. At about the same
time, James Nasmyth's illustrations were the first space landscapes
to appear in a non-fiction book, "The Moon". Before Yuri
Gagarin or John Glenn orbited the Earth, artist Chesley Bonestell
was depicting what life would be like in orbit and which kind of
space vehicles would be used. Since then, many space artists have
explored places or concepts that were too distant, too technologically
advanced or too dangerous for human beings to explore directly. 
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