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Author
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Topic: Norman Rockwell's Gemini and Apollo art
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Rob Sumowski
Member Posts: 468
From: Macon, Georgia
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 01-15-2003 03:49 PM
   
I am having an incredibly hard time finding any information about one Norman Rockwell painting (I think it was titled "Lift") that appeared in Look Magazine. It pictured all of the people behind the Apollo 11 flight in profile. It's got the crew, back up crew, NASA staff, etc. Does anyone know anything about this piece? Or where one might find a print of it? |
spaceman
Member Posts: 1167
From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK
Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 01-15-2003 04:52 PM
I couldn't find a mention of it but you might try these sites or perhaps contact one of them for more info! |
Peter
Member Posts: 15
From: Milwaukee,WI
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 01-15-2003 11:12 PM
The picture is titled "Apollo 11 Team" and it is at the National Air and Space Museum. There is a photo of it in my 1979 printing of the book "National Air and Space Museum" (Pages 422-423). |
heng44
Member Posts: 3589
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 01-16-2003 01:07 AM
I have a German magazine from July 1969 that printed the painting over two pages. I also believe that French magazine Paris Match published it around that time. |
Rob Sumowski
Member Posts: 468
From: Macon, Georgia
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 01-16-2003 11:02 AM
Thanks Peter, Ed, and Nick, for the great information! I really appreciate it.I'll check with them to see if they have ever done any prints of it. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1373
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 01-16-2003 09:44 PM
The Rockwell Museum is located in Western Massachusetts in the town of Stockbridge.I will bet they might be able to give some information about the painting. Look Magazine's Apollo 11: On the Moon special edition has a print of the painting. The interesting thing is that the caption on the magazine says, "Commemorative painting by NORMAN ROCKWELL for LOOK magazine." |
Rob Sumowski
Member Posts: 468
From: Macon, Georgia
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 01-16-2003 11:20 PM
I did check with the Norman Rockwell Museum, whose representative identified the official title as being "Apollo and Beyond." (Ironically, this is the third title I've heard attached to this painting.) The museum added that the painting is now property of National Air and Space Muaseum. I have inquired whether prints have been or can be made and have yet to hear back. I'll let you all know if and when I get a response. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1373
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 01-17-2003 07:12 AM
If you need a copy of the print. I could probably go to a local copy shop and have mine recopied for you. The Look magazine also has the name key to the painting. |
Gilbert
Member Posts: 1443
From: Carrollton, GA USA
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 01-31-2003 03:15 PM
The original painting was in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta last year during the Rockwell exhibit. I stood in front of it for several minutes. It was huge. The people were almost life-size. I have the image in a couple of books in my collection. It is an amazing painting. |
Aztecdoug
Member Posts: 1405
From: Huntington Beach
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 07-24-2006 11:19 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Rob Sumowski:
It pictured all of the people behind the Apollo 11 flight in profile. It's got the crew, back up crew, NASA staff, etc.
This old thread popped into my mind this weekend while doing some extensive reading.The new, September 2006, issue of Air and Space magazine has an article on Norman Rockwell. Written by Pierre Mion who assisted Rockwell on the three paintings commissioned by LOOK in 1966. They display several paintings by both Mion and Rockwell in the article. The painting described above appears to be called Behind Apollo 11. The article describes how delighted Mike Collins was to meet Norman Rockwell. Armstrong and Aldrin are described by Mion as indifferent, unimpressed at meeting Rockwell and even annoyed at this foolishness. There is one other painting shown in the article which I really like. It shows Young and Grissom suiting up for GT-3. |
astroborg
Member Posts: 209
From: Woodbridge, VA, USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 07-26-2006 11:59 AM
That was a good article on Rockwell and Pierre Mion - I never heard that story before. My favorite Rockwell space artwork is his Gemini 3 preflight piece, that was included in the A&S article. |
KSCartist
Member Posts: 3020
From: Titusville, FL
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 07-26-2006 06:46 PM
I've got a photocopy from Look Magazine of all three pages (it folded out). It measures 23" x 9.5". I also have a detail print that shows just the prime and backup crews. Most of you know I "dabble" in painting. Portraits are a favorite. If I could be 1/10th as good as Norman Rockwell, I'd be thrilled. The man was an artistic genius. |
Rob Sumowski
Member Posts: 468
From: Macon, Georgia
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 07-26-2006 10:26 PM
Hi guys, that post was some time ago. Thanks Tim and Doug. Here is what I ended up doing. I bought the magazine, had Chris Kraft sign it, and dry-mounted and matted it. |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 05-09-2008 02:57 PM
Interesting story about the "men behind" painting - One of my friends was working those days for Grumman in the VAB at the Cape. In his hard hat and all, he was approached by a man in suit and tie with badges but he still looked out of place, but he looked familiar to him. He introduced himself as Norman Rockwell. He asked my friend if he could take a few pictures of him - and that is how he made the painting as the hard hat underneath the VAB in the painting. His name is Palmer McBride, but he has some other fame, of sorts - he was the roommate of one Lee Harvey Oswald in the mid-50's in New Orleans - before he joined the Army and defected only to come back and assassinate President J.F. Kennedy. He is even listed in the Warren report, as a character witness. Palmer has had a stroke now and is at home resting, but the stories he told of working on the Saturn's for N.A.A. and Boeing, then Grumman on the LM and after that working For Northrup on FA-18's until he retired. He never lost his love of space and has pictures and models surrounding him. He is one character I will never forget. |
WAWalsh
Member Posts: 809
From: Cortlandt Manor, NY
Registered: May 2000
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posted 05-12-2008 02:30 PM
If there is a source for prints of either the Apollo 11 or Gemini-Titan 3 Rockwell paintings, please post it. I tried a few years back to find one without success (the Apollo 11 painting was also converted into a tie that I have seen once, but never been able to run down). |
ejectr
Member Posts: 1899
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 05-12-2008 04:58 PM
Norman Rockwell Museum of Vermont: The Longest Step Print (GT3) |
kr4mula
Member Posts: 642
From: Cinci, OH
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 05-13-2008 01:03 PM
Some notes about that Gemini painting. The two suit technicians there are Joe Schmitt and Al Rochford. Mr. Schmitt actually visited with Rockwell to advise on the painting and ended up penciling in the wires you see on the console himself. Rockwell also used Schmitt as the model for both techs, but added Rochford's head to the second body. You can notice that the hands and shoes are the same on both. Joe talks about the painting and his experience with Mr. Rockwell at various points in an interview contributed to the JSC Oral History Project. |
MOL
Member Posts: 162
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted 05-19-2022 04:33 PM
I recently obtained a Norman Rockwell print that is somewhat unusual. This is a 16x20 framed print showing the Apollo 11 prime and backup crew. I have only ever seen one other like this in the same frame with the same inscription on the back, so they were sold this way. Who and where it was sold is a mystery to me. What is really unusual is this image was "edited" from a larger mural he did for Look magazine showing other key contributors to Apollo. But as you can see, they actually moved Rockwell's signature to the bottom right near Bill Anders. On the larger mural his signature appears in a completely different location.  
Editor's note: Threads merged. |
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