A selection of vintage Space Art by John Polgreen an American artist most prolific in the 50’s – a style akin to the work of Chesley Bonestell - difficult to believe these beautifully rendered forward thinking scenes are 50 or more years old. Perhaps then a shame that these depicted visions (simultaneous moon landings) haven’t quite come true yet.
Alas there’s not a raft of information on John Polgreen, best place to start is with Flickr User’s Curly-Wurly and Nick Derington who have both posted galleries set’s featuring more of his work.
Picture Notes:
Top: Astronauts surveying a Lunar Landscape via Nick Derington
2nd Top: Blast off from the Lunar Surface via Nick Derington
Bottom: A slightly different style (more painterly) via The Weird World of Winchell Chung / http://www.projectrho.com/ << now that’s a proper Sci-fi Blog to behold! some fantastially in depth stuff there – excellent resource.
Anyone with any more detailed info on John Polgreen, please post a comment.
A further selection from British Artist Chris Foss one of the true masters of Sci-Fi Art.
I’ve collected these sample’s together as they best serve to highlight the elements I find most interesting in Chris’s work. IMO these are: the ship designs themselves (naturally) the striped and checkered lexicon he adorns these craft with, the simply stunning cloudfields, aurora and rock formations, but of course most importantly of all – it’s all about the lighting.
A little more about the samples:
Top: This design typifies all of Chris’s aforementioned traits, a bulbous, large vented craft wrapped with industrial zig-zagging descending through a heavenly cloudscape…
Second: A breathtaking alien vista, incredible lighting tricks here, love all the soft glows.
Third: Something of a Gerry Anderson “Thunderbirds” feel here, again it’s all about the markings.
Fourth & Fifth: two different craft designs, one cylindrical the other very geometric, posed at a very similar angles – great atmospheric effects (corona / dustcloud).
Artwork collected and featured via: Net-Cafe http://www.net-cafe.hu/fantasy.php?ct=174 Astrona: http://astrona.blogspot.com/search/label/Chris%20Foss – do check Astrona for a much larger gallery and more artist info….
Probably the best way to get a true feel for Chris’s Style is to track down one of his books, try ebay of course for a bargain, or amazon.com has a wide selection here: http://is.gd/117Cb or better yet try Chris’s Home site: http://www.chrisfossart.com where for a there’s the chance to buy signed prints!
Cover Art for a later edition of Alfred Bester’s Classic Sci-Fi Novel “Tiger! Tiger!” originally published in 1956.
Artist is Adrian Chesterman - http://www.chestermanart.com/
Scan via Flickr User Seriykotik1970 originally spotted via the SciFi Books Pool, a great source of inspiration I’ve featured from many times http://www.flickr.com/groups/22742217@N00/pool/
As I’ve been a bit slack with posting as of late, here’s a multi-image selection from big time Sci-Fi-O-Rama favourite; Spanish 70’s/80’s Sci-Fi book cover artist Salinas Blanch. Unfortunately I still know very little about Salinas himself, though his supreme neon-fauvist-airbrushing-style will always have a home here! If you’d like see a full gallery of his work and more do check the link below…
Image’s via flickr user C. Rancio has a collection of 30 covers here: http://is.gd/iFqu
Another sample from Tim White used for the cover of the 1983 novel “Welcome Chaos” by Kate Wilhem. Though not strictly a Sci-Fi image in the most obvious sense (that really doesn’t matter here) I’ve decided to feature this because it’s simultaneously naff & cheesy but also dramatically striking in that psuedo-realistic neon style that’s so quintessentially 1980’s – think Athena Posters….
Uk artist Tim White has his own site, with extensive gallery and shop: http://www.tim-white.co.uk/
