Space Is the Place

Chesley Bonestell, Saturn Seen from Titan, 2940. Adler Planetarium, Chicago

The drawings of Chesley Bonestell (1888–1986) helped sell the Chrysler Building and the Golden Gate Bridge to the American public. Bonestell was also a Hollywood matte artist, painting backdrops for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Citizen Kane, and The Magnificent Ambersons. All of this has been eclipsed by Bonestell's later career as a space artist, a creator of otherworldly landscapes for NASA and popular magazines. 

Several Bonestell paintings from Chicago's Adler Planetarium are being lent to Wende Museum for its upcoming show "Competing Cosmologies: Interpreting the Sky" (Nov. 7, 2026–Oct. 17, 2027). Curated by Joes Segal, Emma Diffley, and Lois Rosson, it will bring together scientific and artistic visions of the cosmos from the early 20th century, Cold War, and today.