Smithsonian celebrates NASA’s 50th anniversary with traveling art exhibition

Smithsonian celebrates NASA’s 50th anniversary with traveling art exhibition

NASA’s historic triumphs and pioneering legacy are well known to millions, but the inspiring rocket launches, moon landings and planetary explorations have also had an impact on the imaginations of America’s leading artists.

Astronauts Young and Grissom Suiting Up, 1965 Norman Rockwell 33" X 52" Oil on canvas Technicians dress astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young for the first manned flight of the Gemini mission. Courtesy National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing, Niles, IL

As the space agency turns 50 this fall, a new Smithsonian traveling exhibition featuring 73 works from those artists will be launched in the national tour of "NASA | ART 50 Years of Exploration." "NASA | ART" opens at the Art League of Bonita Springs in Bonita Springs, Fla. Oct. 24, 2008. It will be on view until Jan. 17, 2009 and will then travel to 10 museums through 2011.

The exhibition is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and NASA in cooperation with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. "NASA | ART" features nearly five decades of creations by artists as diverse as Annie Leibovitz, Nam June Paik, Norman Rockwell, Doug and Mike Starn, Andy Warhol and William Wegman.

Drawn from the collections of NASA and the National Air and Space Museum, the exhibition includes drawings, photographs, sculpture and other media. These works—ranging from the illustrative to the abstract—offer unparalleled insight into the private and personal moments, triumphant victories and tragic accidents that form the storied history of NASA. For example, in Henry Caselli’s "When Thoughts Turned Inward," the artist captures the serene, almost spiritual moment before take-off when an astronaut must prepare mentally for a mission. In Chakaia

Eileen Collins, 1999 Annie Leibovitz 24"x20" Photograph In 1995, Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle (Discovery). Leibovitz took this photograph in 1999, the year Collins became the first woman to command a Shuttle mission (Columbia). Courtesy NASA Art Program

Booker’s "Remembering Columbia," the tragedy and pain of the lost Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew are transformed in the twisting tire remnants preserved from one of the shuttle’s earlier missions. And Andy Warhol melds Buzz Aldrin’s historic steps on the lunar surface with the unbridled exuberance and flashiness of the 1960s in his neon-highlighted "Moonwalk" silkscreen.

The works featured in the exhibit date from the inception of NASA’s Art Program in 1962, when NASA administrator James E. Webb asked a group of artists to illustrate, interpret and elucidate the space agency’s missions and projects. Since then, painters, musicians and conceptual artists have been with NASA every step of the way, strolling along launch pads, training in flight simulators, talking with engineers and technicians, and visiting with astronauts before and after their flights.

A companion book complements the national traveling exhibition. "NASA | ART 50 Years of Exploration" will be published in fall 2008 by Harry N. Abrams.

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NASA was created by Congress in 1958 "to provide for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth’s atmosphere, and for other purposes." The agency is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with 10 field centers and other facilities around the nation. NASA’s mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research. www.nasa.gov

The National Air and Space Museum, composed of the flagship building on the National Mall in Washington and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, is home to the world’s finest collection of artifacts of flight. From aircraft and space vehicles to engines, art and models, the wide array of the museum’s holdings tells the story of the history and technology of air and space exploration. The museum is also a key institution for research into the history, science and technology of aviation and space flight. www.nasm.si.edu

SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 50 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. Exhibition descriptions and tour schedules are available at www.sites.si.edu.