- Bean, Alan and Andrew Chaikin.
Apollo.
Shelton, CT: The Greenwich Workshop, 1998.
ISBN 978-0-86713-050-8.
-
On November 19th, 1969,
Alan Bean
became the fourth man to walk on the Moon, joining
Apollo 12
commander
Pete Conrad
on the surface of
Oceanus Procellarum.
He was the first person to land on the Moon
on his very first space flight. He later commanded the
Skylab 3 mission
in 1973, spending more than 59 days in orbit.
Astronauts have had a wide variety of second careers after
retiring from NASA: executives, professors,
politicians, and many others. Among the Apollo astronauts, only
Alan Bean set out, after leaving NASA in 1981, to become a
professional artist, an endeavour at which he has succeeded,
both artistically and commercially. This large format
coffee table book collects many of his paintings completed
before its publication in 1998, with descriptions by the artist
of the subject material of each and, in many cases, what he
was trying to achieve artistically. The companion text
by space writer Andrew Chaikin (A
Man on the Moon) provides an overview of Bean's
career and the Apollo program.
Bean's art combines scrupulous attention to technical detail (for
example, the precise appearance of items reflected in the curved visor
of spacesuit helmets) with impressionistic brushwork and use of
colour, intended to convey how the lunar scenes felt, as
opposed to the drab, near monochrome appearance of the actual
surface. This works for some people, while others find it
grating—I like it very much. Visit the
Alan Bean Gallery
and make up your own mind.
This book is out of print, but used copies are available. (While mint
editions can be pricey, non-collector copies for readers just
interested in the content are generally available at modest cost).
October 2008 