Past Exhibition
The Artist and Space

Details

Overview: More than 70 paintings, drawings, and sculptures by 47 artists were drawn from the vast number of works produced for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's "Eyewitness to Space" art program. Since 1962 scores of artists including Robert Rauschenberg, Lamar Dodd, Norman Rockwell, Morris Graves, and Jamie Wyeth were invited to visit Cape Kennedy and other launch sites to talk with astronauts or to ride a rescue helicopter to observe the pickup of astronauts. H. Lester Cooke, curator of painting, was the Gallery's advisor to NASA for this project, which was designed to record the Apollo mission to the moon through the artists' eyes rather than on film or tape.