Beyond Gravity: Selections from the Permanent Collection
On view until November 30, 2019
Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University
Manhattan, Kansas
beach.ksu.edu
Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both Americans, landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969. This exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing and complements the Manhattan Public Library’s summer reading theme, A Universe of Stories.
The signature work, Moon Landing, is by artist and designer Raymond Loewy, who worked for NASA from 1967 to 1973. Loewy was employed as a Habitability Consultant by NASA when it designed the Skylab space station, launched in 1973. One of NASA’s goals in hiring Loewy was to improve the safety and comfort of manned spacecraft.
Another body of work featured in the exhibition is by Indian artist Rm. Palaniappan. “During my schooling, interest on science made me imagine myself as a scientist,” the artist has said. “(A)lso my deep involvement in mathematics and astronomy gave me a doorway to see a new world of abstractions.” Palaniappan’s Alien Planet series, Space Drawings, and Flying Man all reflect his fascination with flight and space exploration. From John Steuart Curry’s illustration study for a Ralph Waldo Emerson essay to Wisconsin engineer Erhardt C. Koerper’s Sun Flares to Lee Chesney’s Nebula, this exhibition invites viewers to travel beyond gravity’s reach.
Image credit: Raymond Loewy (United States, 1893 – 1986), Moonlanding, 1979, color screen print with embossing on paper, 19 1/16 x 24 in., Kansas State University, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, gift of Gilbert E. Johnson, 2017.99
