I recently rediscovered the amazing work of Robert McCall, an artist who pretty much defined the space-age optimism in his paintings. Most people will probably recognize the beautiful paintings he made for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (which has been another big influence on me), but the first time I saw his work was in a book called Our World In Space, written by Isaac Asimov and published in 1974. It is one of those books — typical of the late 60s and early-to-mid-70s — that looks at the future of man in the universe, dreaming of extensive space exploration, vast man-made habitats in a very optimistic way, still believing that mankind was sure to conquer our solar system in the 21st century.
My dad was a huge science fiction fan and so amongst his collection of novels with weird artwork (remember, I like 5 or 6 years old) I’d stumble across this huge book with this anonymous space man on the cover (the image at the top of this post). He looked like an astronaut, but not like the ones I’d seen on TV or in magazines. This guy, and all the other illustrations in the book were of a reality that still needs to be invented, and yet it was all explained in detail how these scenarios would play out. I’d spend hours looking at those pen drawings and paintings, crudely recreating them later with Lego (which weren’t the only things I’d try to build, Hector from Saturn 3 was another favourite).
Today we live in that 21st century, the magical year of 2001 has long gone, and we’re still stuck on our planet. The only things we now shoot into the universe are lifeless machines. Hopefully, one day those paintings will become a reality — but until then we’ve got the work of Robert McCall.
March 27th, 2009
Excellent stuff! It’s a lot harder to stay optimistic about the future these days. I wonder if painted poster art will come back into fashion, although doubt our generation has the skill or patience. Please post some photos of your lego models! (@n@)
March 27th, 2009
Aha, so now I know who painted the 2001 poster that hangs behind me while I work. Great stuff!
March 27th, 2009
Science fiction is almost always too optimistic in the sense that the scope of the changes it projects is focused on a few large shifts. The total sum of all the minutiae we regard as – individual – technological advances are what really constitutes the future.
However, we need vision, and science fiction plays a large part in providing that. I for one, hope that we will truly conquer (immediate) space in my lifetime; looking back at the boundless optimism about our potential for progress that followed the almost legendary achievements of the 60s, I can’t help but feel we’ve lost our way. With all the peripheral advances that trickle down from NASA, ESA (and now, the Chinese), we really should push forward. In any case, the immediate costs are paltry in comparison with defense budgets around the world.
We need vision and symbolic adventures into the Great Unknown. If not just for the advances we can re-purpose and use in other ways, then to ignite a certain, broad passion for progress that we haven’t had since the late modernism of the 60s. Nowadays, advance is tied to convenience and lifestyle, not a vision of Humanity as mastering anything other than Maslow’s pyramid of needs.
<3
April 16th, 2009
great blog and interesting articles ive added your site to my rss reader…thanks a bunch :)
April 21st, 2009
[...] 21, 2009 by Coudal Partners Space has never looked so good, the paintings of Robert McCall, by Tom Muller, who will be playing Layer Tennis live for us this [...]