Name: RON MILLER (b.1947) AND WERNHER VON BRAUN (1912-1977)
Brand: TWO DRAWINGS OF THE LUNAR LANDER
Price: 42000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

RON MILLER (b.1947) AND WERNHER VON BRAUN (1912-1977)
TWO DRAWINGS OF THE LUNAR LANDER
1. RON MILLER (b.1947)
TOUCHDOWN ON THE MOON
signed Bonestell and Miller lower left
acrylic on illustration board
16¹⁄₂ x 15¹⁄₂ in. (41.9 x 39.4 cm.)
Executed circa 1992

2. WERNHER VON BRAUN (1912-1977)
ONE-WAY SHIP UNLOADING CARGO ON THE MOON
pencil drawing on Keuffel & Esser graph paper with numerous autograph annotations by Wernher von Braun
11 x 8¹⁄₂ in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm.)
Executed circa 1952

The painting:
Ron Miller.
Frederick I. Ordway III (1927-2014), Huntsville, Alabama; acquired from the artist, 1990.
Acquired by the late owner from the above, 2003.

The drawing:
Cornelius Ryan (1920-1974), editor at Collier's.
Kathryn Morgan (1925-1993), widow of the above.
[with] Robert Barry, New Haven, CT (antiquarian bookseller).
Randy Liebermann, Washington, D.C.
Frederick I. Ordway III (1927-2014), Huntsville, Alabama.
Acquired by the late owner from the above, 2003.

Frederick I. Ordway III and Randy Liebermann, eds., Blueprint for Space: Science Fiction to Science Fact, Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press,1992, p. 142, illustrated (the drawing).

Seattle, Washington, Pivot Art + Culture, Imagined Futures: Science Fiction, Art, and Artifacts from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection, 7 April 7-10 July 2016 (both works).

Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Blueprint for Space: Science Fiction to Science Fact, 1991; also New York, New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, 14 January-28 March 28 1992; Houston, Texas, Johnson Space Center Visitors' Center, 1992; Cape Canaveral, Florida, Spaceport USA Visitor Center, 1993; Washington, D.C., National Air and Space Museum, 5 May 1993-30 April 1994; Hampton, Virginia, Virginia Air and Space Center (both works).

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Lot Essay

"Man on the Moon." These two drawings represent the "before and after" for the Chesley Bonestell cover artwork for the 18 October 1952 issue of Collier's "Man Will Conquer Space Soon!" series. The cover story was titled "Man on the Moon. Scientists Tell How We Can Land There in Our Lifetime." Wernher von Braun—the most notorious acquisition of "Operation Paperclip" in which Nazi scientists were rehabilitated into American programs—was the lead engineer behind the 1950s Collier's drive to ignite the Space Race. He collaborated closely with Chesley Bonestell and the other illustrators in providing the technical drawings and specifications used in their artwork, of which this is an example. The painting by Ron Miller is a recreation of the lost Chesley Bonestell original used on the cover, depicting a version of the same spacecraft.