Book Review: Nasa/Art: 50 Years of Exploration

NASA/Art: 50 Years of Exploration, by James Dean and Bertram Ulrich, NASA, Abrams, New York, 2008.

This book is where science and art meet.  This book provides a history of the NASA space program, as told through the eyes of several artists.  From early on different artists were invited to NASA to interpret history through the eyes of an artists.  There is a very mixed bag.  In talks about NASA failures, three flights that ended in tragedy, two Space Shuttles and Apollo 1.  There are some very brilliant pictures; three for Norman Rockwell, Nathan Greene contributes several, John Solie and Ken Wicks. Jaune Quick-To-See Smith provides a Native American interpretation of the space program which is very telling.  A woman’s robe represents the earth.  There are several artworks of the plume of smoke left after take-off.  These include symbolic representations.  This book is divided into four chapters: Blazing the Trail, On to the Moon, Soaring to the Skies and the Heavens, New Worlds.  I have enjoyed browsing the pictures.