Chesley Bonestell

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chesley Knight Bonestell, Jr (born January 1, 1888 in San Francisco , California - † June 11, 1986 in Carmel , California) was an American painter , designer and illustrator . His images inspired the American space program and have (ongoing) influence on science fiction art and illustration. As a pioneer of astronomical art, Bonestell, together with the French astronomer-artist Lucien Rudaux, was referred to as the "father of modern space art ".

biography

Early years

Bonestell was born in San Francisco, California. His first astronomical painting was done in 1905. After seeing Saturn through the telescope at the Lick Observatory in San José , California, he rushed home to paint what he saw. The painting was destroyed in the fire that followed the 1906 San Francisco earthquake . Between 1915 and 1918 he exhibited lithographs in the 4th and 7th annual exhibition of the California Society of Etchers (now the California Society of Printmakers) in San Francisco.

Bonestell studied architecture at Columbia University in New York City . In his third year, he dropped out and worked as a renderer and designer for some of the leading architectural firms of the time, including Willis Polk, "The Man Who Rebuilt San Francisco" ("The Man Who Rebuilt San Francisco").

Drawing of the Golden Gate Bridge by Chesley Bonestell

Bonestell moved to England in 1920, where he wrote architectural topics for the Illustrated London News . He returned to New York in 1926. Bonestell, William van Alen and Warren Straton designed the Art Deco facade of the Chrysler Building and its striking eagle figures. During the same period he designed the Plymouth Rock Memorial , the United States Supreme Court Building , the Helmsley Building , office and residential buildings in Manhattan and several state buildings in the American federal capitals.

When he returned to the west coast, he made illustrations of the chief engineer's plans for the Golden Gate Bridge in favor of the donors. In the late 1930s he moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a special effects artist (without end credits) and created paintings for films including The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Citizen Kane (1941), and The Glitz of the House of Amberson (1942).

Work for magazines

Bonestell's first cover for Galaxy Science Fiction (Feb 1951), The Tying Down of a Spaceship on Mars in Desert Sandstorm
Cover for the May 1951 issue

Then Bonestell realized that he could combine what he had learned about camera angles, miniature modeling, and painting techniques with his lifelong interest in astronomy. The result was a series of paintings of Saturn as seen from several of its natural satellites, published in Life in 1944. Nothing like it had ever been seen back then: they looked like photographers had been sent into space. His painting Saturn as Seen from Titan is perhaps the most famous astronomical landscape of all time and is nicknamed "... the painting that started a thousand careers". It was constructed using a combination of clay models, photographic tricks, and various painting techniques. (Titan has a dense gas envelope; such a view is probably not possible in reality.)

As a result, Bonestell published more paintings of this type in many leading national magazines. These and others were eventually collected in the bestseller The Conquest of Space (1949), produced in collaboration with author Willy Ley . Bonestells last work in Hollywood contributed special effects art and technical advice to the groundbreaking science-fiction films of George Pal produced, including Destination Moon , Judgment Day , War of the Worlds , Conquest of Space and Cat-Women of the Moon . Starting with the October 1947 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, Bonestell painted more than 60 cover illustrations for science fiction magazines, mostly The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, in the 1950s through 1970s . He also illustrated many book covers.

When Wernher von Braun was organizing a space symposium for Collier's Weekly , he invited Bonestell to illustrate his concepts for the future of space travel. For the first time it has been shown that space travel is a matter of the near future. Von Braun and Bonestell showed that this could be achieved with the technology that existed back then in the mid-1950s and that it was only a question of money and will. At the beginning of the Cold War and shortly before the sobering shock of the start of Sputnik , the Collier’s series “Man Will Conquer Space Soon!” Played a key role in the start of the American space program from 1952 to 1954.

Von Braun's concept, illustration by Bonestell

In 1986, Bonestell died in Carmel, California with an unfinished painting on his easel.

Honors

Bonestell Crater , from HiRISE . The scale is 1000 meters

During his lifetime, Bonestell was honored internationally for his contributions to the birth of modern astronautics, from a bronze medal awarded by the British Interplanetary Society to a place in the International Space Hall of Fame to an asteroid named after him was named. The Conquest of Space won the 1951 International Fantasy Award for nonfiction, one of the first two fantasy or science fiction awards at Eastercon in the UK . In 2005, the Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Bonestell as the first non-writer artist. In 2004 he posthumously received the Retro Hugo Award for best artist.

His paintings are valued by collectors and institutions such as the National Air and Space Museum and the National Collection of Fine Arts. Wernher von Braun wrote, "I've learned to respect, nay fear, this wonderful artist's obsession with perfection. My file cabinet is filled with sketches of rocket ships I had prepared to help in his artwork — only to have them returned to me with ... blistering criticism. "

A Martian crater and the asteroid (3129) Bonestell are named after Bonestell.

In 2016 the first album of Sun Ra's songs was released, entitled The Space Age Is Here To Stay , with Bonestell's authorized illustrations.

Illustrations (selection)

  • The Conquest of Space , 1949
  • Across the Space Frontier , 1952
  • Man on the Moon , 1953
  • The End of the World , 1953
  • The World We Live In , 1955
  • The Exploration of Mars , 1956
  • Man and the Moon , 1961
  • Rocket to the Moon , 1961
  • The Solar System , 1961
  • Beyond the Solar System , 1964
  • Mars , 1964
  • Beyond Jupiter , 1972
  • The Golden Era of the Missions , 1974
  • The Art of Chesley Bonestell , 2001

Participation in film productions (selection)

  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame , 1939
  • SOS fire on board , 1939
  • The Isle of the Lost , 1940
  • Citizen Kane , 1941
  • The Splendor of the Amberson House , 1942
  • Moon terminus , 1950
  • Judgment Day , 1951
  • Clash of the Worlds , 1953
  • Cat-Women of the Moon , 1953
  • The conquest of space , 1955
  • Men into Space , TV series, 1959–60

Documentation

Bonestell appeared in the documentary The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985) (produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit ). A documentary about his life, Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future (Feature Length Documentary) , was produced in 2018.

Influence on pop culture

“… Zoom in on Mars, using stock or bonestelled shots, unbroken sequence, then dissolving to miniature matched set of actual landing place of Envoy ”

"Enlarge Mars with original or Bonestell illustrations without interruption to determine the actual landing site of" Envoy "in miniature format."

- Robert A. Heinlein : Stranger in a strange world

See also

literature

  • Ron Miller, Frederick C. Durant III: Worlds Beyond: The Art of Chesley Bonestell . Walsworth Pub Co., 1983.
  • Ron Miller, Frederick C. Durant III: The Art of Chesley Bonestell (preface by Melvin H. Schuetz). Paper Tiger, 2001.
  • Melvin H. Schuetz: Chesley Bonestell Space Art Chronology . Universal Publishers, 1999.
  • Melvin H. Schuetz: Supplement to A Chesley Bonestell Space Art Chronology . 2003.
  • Donald H. Tuck (arr.): The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy Volumes 1 and 2. Advent Publications, Chicago 1974.

Web links

Commons : Chesley Bonestell  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chesley Bonestell (photography by Cedric Braun.) Chesley Bonestell Memorial Lecture Series, Each year, the Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy presents a lecture for the general public supported by funds from the Chesley Bonestell Memorial Lecture Endowment. - Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy ( Memento from March 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Ron Miller, Frederick C. Durant III: The Art of Chesley Bonestell . Collins and Brown Limited, London House, Great Eastern Wharf, Parkgate Road, London SW11 4NQ 2001, pp. 15-20.
  3. ^ Ron Miller, Frederick C. Durant III: The Art of Chesley Bonestell . Collins and Brown Limited, London House, Great Eastern Wharf, Parkgate Road, London SW11 4NQ 2001, ISBN 1 85585 905 X , p. 23.
  4. ↑ Chesley Bonestell Chronology Melvin H. Schuetz, 1999 ( Memento from June 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Saturn as Seen from Titan novaspaceart, 1944 ( Memento from May 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Ron Miller, Frederick C. Durant III: The Art of Chesley Bonestell . Collins and Brown Limited, London House, Great Eastern Wharf, Parkgate Road, London SW11 4NQ 2001, ISBN 1 85585 905 X , p. 47.
  7. ↑ OBITUARIES: Blended Astronomy and Art: Painter Chesley Bonestell died at the age of 98 LA Times, article on Bonestell's death ( Memento from April 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Inductee Profile: Chesley K. Bonestell USA, inducted into the SF Hall of Fame 1989 SF Hall of Fame ( Memento from July 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ It's Official! Inductees Named for 2005 Hall of Fame Class . Retrieved August 30, 2016 .. Press release, March 24, 2005. Science Fiction Museum ( sfhomeworld.org ). Archived March 26, 2005. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame" American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions ( Memento from May 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Bonestell (Mars crater) in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature of the IAU (WGPSN) / USGS
  12. ↑ Grady, Spencer: Sun Ra Vinyl Salvos Ready For Blast Off . Jazz Wise Magazine. August 6, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  13. ↑ Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future - Home
personal data
SURNAME Bonestell, Chesley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bonestell, Chesley Knight Jr
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American science fiction illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 1986
Place of death Carmel , California