Rare & Wonderful 1950s Space Art

[Monte Davis]

And, of course, streamlining is all about movement through atmosphere -- and
totally pointless (heh) in space, where presumably spaceships would spend
most of their time. Chesley Bonestell had it right very early on, and the
work of film/multimedia artist and SF illustrator Ed Emshwiller is a good
place to track the more general shift from streamlining to the irregular,
busy, strap-on-another-module look of the 1970s and after.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of David Morris
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 10:09 AM
To: Dave Monroe
Cc: pynchon -l
Subject: Re: Rare & Wonderful 1950s Space Art

Most of the spaceship designs on these covers would be considered examples
of a uniquely American style that started in the mid-30's and flourished in
the 40's:  Streamline.  It is a form of Deco adapted to convey the image (if
not actuality) of aerodynamics, fast movement through space.  Streamline
took the geometry of Deco and curved all its sharp edges.  Even standing
still (as most household appliances
do) Streamline object seem like snapshots of a form moving qiuckly by.

Google Images:
http://tinyurl.com/8yakw7g

On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 9:24 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 9:23 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
>> http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2012/06/rare-wonderful-1950s-space-ar
>> t.html
>
> E.g., ...
>
> http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JrHpgQIUiqA/ThOM4SDX97I/AAAAAAABfsg/
> 1wD5j5MRrhI/s0/r65y7uertyertrtr.jpg