Leonardo

Paintings on Themes Taken from AstronauticsAuthor(s): Hans-Gunther Cremers and Anna C. FunkSource: Leonardo, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Summer, 1973), pp. 237-238Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1572643 .

Accessed: 13/06/2014 17:55

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The MIT Press and Leonardo are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toLeonardo.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.203 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 17:55:15 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Leonardo, Vol. 6, pp. 237-238. Pergamon Press 1973. Printed in Great Britain

PAINTINGS ON THEMES TAKEN FROM ASTRONAUTICS

Hans-Gunther Cremers* with Anna C. Funk**

I, the senior author, am concerned with what F. J. Malina describes as 'art made on Earth to express either the resulting new psychological experiences or the possible new philosophical conceptions of man and of the universe' brought about by the development of astronautics [1]. Although since 1963 I have chosen themes exclusively from the world of astronautics for my paintings, I do not like to be called a 'painter of astronautics'. Actually, I am interested in the subject of the impact of technology on society in its widest sense [2] and I use themes from astronautics to draw attention to it.

My first series of paintings was executed in vivid color and my style had Pop art overtones. Unlike many contemporary artists, I strove to avoid the negative aspects of the use of advanced technology in society. In 'Knight in Blue' the space suit of an astronaut is treated like the suit of armour of a noble knight and in 'Astronauts' Toy' a space flight simulator takes on the character of an amusement park installation.

The Apollo capsule accident in 1967 in which three American astronauts lost their lives brought to my mind the Greek myth of the disastrous attempt of Icarus to fly with wings of wax. As a result, the next series of paintings is devoted to situations in which an astronaut's life is in danger (Fig. 1). I had used a heart and lungs to represent life supported by technology but in this series they suggest threats to life, even its annihilation.

I was influenced by events again in a major way in 1969 when I made a three-month tour of various astronautical research and development centers in the U.S.A. The tour culminated at Cape Kennedy where I witnessed the launching of the Apollo XII, which successfully carried out a manned mission to the Moon. These experiences gave me a much better understanding of the demands made upon engineers to produce reliable, highly complicated equipment and upon astronauts to carry out tasks under very unusual and difficult conditions during flight in space and on the lunar surface. The series

* Artist living at 1 Eiskellerberg, 4-Dusseldorf, Fed. Rep. Ger.

** Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Museum Karl-Erst-Osthaus, Hagen, Westfallen, Fed. Rep. Ger. (Received 19 June 1972.)

of paintings inspired by my American tour empha- sized the positive aspects of the partnership of man and machine. Nevertheless, I felt that mankind can be lonely among great technological achievements in a way I imagine astronauts might be lonely during their long voyages.

When an artist confronts the drama and the vast scale of the Apollo program and the monumental equipment constructed, he cannot but realize how difficult it is to convey impressions of it to a viewer on the scale of easel paintings. In my picture 'Docking Trapeze' (Fig. 2), I used a shaped canvas to imply it is a section of a powerful rocket engine jet that had propelled the depicted capsule into space. 'Raumfenster' (Space Window) (Fig. 3) shows an astronaut in a capsule in gravity-free space. One cannot tell if one is looking at the astronaut or the astronaut is looking at the viewer in space. The picture symbolizes for me a lonely world dominated by technology.

These works are done with acrylic paints by means of a brush or a spray gun. Sometimes I also make use of the photo-montage technique com- bined with painting.

Fig. 1. 'Ikarus', acrylic on canvas, 110 x 95 cm, 1968. (Photo: B. Jansen, Diisseldorf, Fed. Rep. Ger.)

237

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.203 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 17:55:15 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hans-Gunther Cremers with Anna C. Funk

A r -...

Fig. 3. 'Raumfenster', acrylic on canvas, 80 x 98 cm. 1971. (Photo: B. Jansen, Disseldorf, Fed. Rep. Ger.)

Fig. 2. 'Docking-trapeze', acrylic on canvas, 150 x 95 cm, 1971. (Photo: B. Jansen, Diisseldorf, Fed. Rep.

Ger.)

Painters have also chosen extraterrestrial land- scapes and astronautical themes for their works for some time [1, 4]. The Soviet cosmonaut A. Leonov has made numerous paintings based on his experiences while in Earth-orbital flight [1]. Per- haps I am the first artist in Germany to make works devoted exclusively to themes taken from space

technology. In any case, I was the only German artist who showed paintings in the exhibition 'The Artist in Space' at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., in 1969.

REIERENCES

1. F. J. Malina, On the Visual Fine Arts in the Space Age, Leonardo 3, 323 (1970).

2. T. Hancock, Water-colour Murals of Technology, Leonardo 5, 199 (1972).

3. The Artist and Space, Exhibition Catalogue (Wash- ington, D.C.): National Gallery of Art, 1969).

4. L. PeSek, An Artist in Modem Times: On Extra- terrestrial Landscapes, Leonardo 5, 297 (1972).

238

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.203 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 17:55:15 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions