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Title: Visions of Space by David Hardy ISBN: 1-85028-098-3 Publisher: Paper Tiger Pub. Date: November, 1990 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $64.50

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Classic space art of the original masters
Comment: These days, the fantastic space art of such stellars as Vincent DiFate, Robert McCall, Michael Whelan, Rowena Morrill, Dean Ellis et al. are well known. Meanwhile the pre-Hubble, Pre-Apollo, pre-Sputnik artists are receding into the mists as more new artists appear (along with their snazzy up to date computers and expensive software).

VoS is a tribute to these original masters: the dreamers who imagined the rings of Saturn at sunset as viewed from one of its moons, the optimists who KNEW their grandchildren would live in domed habitats on the Moon, the artists who drew Von Braun wheels in orbit around the planets (with the firm belief that mankind would have reached this far by no later than the end of the twentieth century), the adventureminded who saw in their mind's eye the churning clouds of Jupiter seen from a mining colony on a Galilean moon.

Likely to be unimpressive to many younger people weaned on "Star Wars," the newer "Star Trek" series, and video games, this book can be appreciated by the folks who imagined what Mars looked like before the Viking landings proved or disproved our imaginations. Before Hubble, Pioneer, Voyager, Venera. These were the days of rockets and rocketmen, before contemporary science fiction made "hyperdrive" and "planetary federation" household words.

When looking at the art in VoS, it is necessary to remember that much of the work represented here was made before the modern advances and discoveries of modern astronomy. Chesley Bonestell, one of the true grandmasters of space art, created visions of space based on imagination alone... he saw in his mind's eye the shadows cast by the rings of Saturn, rocketmen in heavy armorlike spacesuits as they mined yet-to-be discovered heavy elements on a distant asteroid, he saw a bright future of colonized space.

There are some contemporary artists featured in VoS; Pamela Lee, Michael Carroll, Don Dixon, Ed Tucciarone, Kim Poor, David A. Hardy et al. Some artists have enjoyed careers that span decades, and continue to flourish today. There are those who had work commissioned early in the 20th century: Scriven Bolton, Howard Russell Butler, H. Seppings Wright, Lucien Rudaux, Abbe Th. Moreux, James Nasmyth. These people deserve much credit for getting the space program started, and for giving the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials something to base their scenery on.

There are many two-page pictures in this book, and almost all are in color, very few are in B&W (some of the obscure color paintings were photographed in B&W for books in the first quarter of the 20th century).

The foreword is by Arthur C. Clarke. The informative and insightful commentary is by David A. Hardy.

Highly recommended.

Rating: 3
Summary: Detailed analysis of varied art works
Comment: Visions of space has a lot of art work and I was suprised to see how many different forms there were.The language is quite complex and I don't think younger readers would enjoy it as much as adults.I like space but that is not really a good reason to buy this book.If you like mordern or pop art than this is worth a look.