Robert T. McCall
1919 - 2010 IN MEMORIAM
It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to ASAA Founder, artist, visionary and friend, Robert T. McCall. An integral part of the foundation of ASAA, Robert’s professional career, spanning nearly 60 years, earned him the coveted title as “ one of the most significant space artists of the 20th century .”
His fertile imagination, vision and creativity have generated images of the future, new landscapes, and the technology that will transport and serve Man in these endeavors. His many larger than life murals depict Man, machine and the Cosmos interactive in the quest to fulfill our destiny. He indeed kept the dream alive in presenting a constant glimpse of the future that makes us pause and ponder the wonders of the universe. Isac Asimov affectionately referred to Robert as, “ the nearest thing to an artist in residence from outer space .” In Robert’s own words, “ I am living the future that I dreamed about when I was a young boy, and for me it is just as bright and wonderful as I imagined it would be .”
For those of us who experienced the presence of Robert, viewed his art, and shared conversation, we truly are fortunate to have been graced with his intellect, energy and vision of tomorrow.
2 ASAA Founder Robert T. McCall, 1919-2010 by Keith Ferris, ASAA Founder
I first became aware of Bob McCall when, as a young aspiring artist in the early 1950’s, I collected files on every artist creating the aviation art found in magazines of the day. Those old files still fill an entire file drawer, allowing me to review the remarkable competitive talent the young artist faced in the United States and England in those days. Those were the golden years of illustration. Magazines covered aviation editorially while demand for advertising illustration by the vast aero - space industry of the day was great.
The relative aviation knowledge of the various artists was apparent and it did not take long for it to become obvious that Bob not only understood aviation, but also was unique in his style and color, his imaginative compositions, and his sense of light and reflected light.
By the mid-1950’s, his work appeared regularly in full color national advertising campaigns for major aerospace corporations such as United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, GE, Douglas, Boe - ing, and General Electric. The file is full of McCall art for airlines: TWA, Pan Am and SAS as well as art for Mobile Oil and Champion Spark Plugs.
I saw my first original McCall art in St. Louis about 1955 in a traveling exhibit of artists represented by the prestigious New York based Cooper Studio. The Cooper stable included the finest, most famous illustrators in the country. Bob was the aviation specialist in this group and was certainly an inspiration for me. His excellent drawing, relatively loose painting accented with sharp accents of accurate detail, set him apart from others.
He opted for the freelance life in 1958 and in the early Cold War years found himself documenting national defense issues for LIFE Magazine, Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post.
One of his major commissions for LIFE was to illustrate the serialization of Walter Lord’s book “The Day of Infamy” about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. These large works are on display in the National Air & Space Museum. Bob’s expertise naturally led to major works for LIFE docu - menting the early space program. His growing expertise in this new subject led to his being invited by NASA to cover the Mercury, and Gemini programs where his lived and worked among the pi - oneer astronauts. This close association provided the inspiration for the rest of his career. He was to cover the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs, virtually from the inside. His obvious strength was his growing knowledge of the space program, his grasp of the multitude of technical details involved combined with his enthusiasm and his informed imagination. Bob lived in the fu - ture.
Evidence of this expertise was not lost on Stanley Kubrick who engaged McCall for the advertising posters for his 1968 movie classic “2001: A Space Odyssey”. He was to create conceptual paint - ings for other movies such as Disney’s “Black Hole”, and Paramount’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”.
His works have ranged from smaller works such as 21 space themed U. S. postage stamps and mission patches for Apollo and Space Shuttle crews including those who were the last to walk on the moon, to his massive six-story high by seventy-foot wide National Air & Space Museum
3 “Space Mural – A Cosmic View” seen by ten million viewers a year since 1976.
Bob was to create many large murals in places such as NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Hous - ton, Texas; The Dryden Flight Research Center in Lancaster, California and at the Kansas Cos - mosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas.
His massive works have also graced walls of Disney World Resort’s Epcot Center including the Park’s “Spaceship Earth” attraction.
Bob and his wife/teammate Louise moved from Chappaqua New York to their home and studio in Paradise Valley, Arizona in the 1970s.They have worked in media ranging from line and wash, watercolor, oils and stone lithography. They also worked in glass, creating the remarkable stained- glass Chapel-in-the-Round in their Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise.
Bob had wanted to be an artist since he was ten years old. He was proficient enough by age 17 to work as a commercial artist for a local silkscreen company while on a scholarship in the Colum - bus School of Fine Arts for two years before leaving to pursue his art career full time.
As WW II approached, Bob wanted “to fly airplanes” enlisting in the Army Air Corps in 1941 as an aviation cadet. Ironically, it was found that he was color blind under certain lighting conditions so, unable to fly as pilot, he served as a bombardier instructor in the AT-11, B-17 and B-24. As the war ended, he was preparing to enter the Pacific War in B-29s. He had used his off-duty hours “painting pictures of Airplanes”.
Resuming his art career after the war, he found himself working for the most prestigious publish - ing, advertising and illustration firms in Chicago and New York.
Bob, was a Life Member of the Society of Illustrators in New York, serving on its Board of Directors as the Air Force Art Chairman who sent me on my first Air Force Art trip in 1961. Bob was among the very first artists in the Air Force Art Program, participating since 1954. His first space paintings were created for Air Force Art when he attended Cape Canaveral launches for the Air Force. There are fifty McCall works in the Air Force Art Collection.
Bob McCall was larger than life; His career certainly larger than life. He held an Honorary Doc - torate degree and was honored by the National Aeronautics Association as an Elder Statesman of Aviation. His example has been an inspiration to generations of artists, aviators, and astronauts. The American Society of Aviation Artists has been honored to claim Bob as one of our five Founders. We rejoice in the fact that Bob’s legacy will live on in his art as he continues to share his talent, dreams, enthusiasm and optimism with future generations. He will be sorely missed by his vast collection of friends and admirers.
Our deep sympathies are with his wife and teammate of 64 years, Louise, their two daughters Linda and Catherine and four grandchildren.
Godspeed, Bob. Your legacy will go unmatched.
Keith Ferris , ASAA Founder
4 5 “Few have captured the American spirit of ingenuity, hope and imagination as eloquently as Robert McCall.” Robert N. Shelton, President, University of Arizona
“Bob is absolutely passionate about astronomy and space science.” Peter Strittmatter, Director, Steward Observatory
“If you look at what we call transformative science, the type of research that really changes the way we view our world, it’s all on the edge of science fiction. Sometimes people like Bob McCall help point us in the direction of where science should be going. Thre futuristic views of his work wil be inspiring to new explorations that we are already working on.” Joaquin Ruiz, Dean, UA College of Science
Cosmic Evolution by Robert T. McCall
6 Spirit of Arizona Mural Detail by Robert T. McCall 7 “To create is to celebrate one's connection to the Cosmos.” Burnell Yow
• McCall is a Founder of The American Society of Aviation Artists
• Inducted into the Society of Illustrators "Hall of Fame"- New York, 1988
• Recipient of the "Yuri Gagarin Medal" from the Soviet Union, Russia, 1988
• The Honoree of the Scottsdale Memorial Honor Ball of 1989
• Robert T. McCall received an Honorary Doctor of Visual Arts Degree from Columbus College of Art and Design, 1998
• McCall was identified and honored as an "Arizona History Maker" in 1999
• Inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame," 2001
• Recipient of the "Elder Statesman of Aviation" Award from the National Aeronautic Association, 2002
• Honored in April 2003 by the Space Foundation with the "Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award," and identified by the Foundation as "The World's Pre-eminent Space Artist"
• Recipient of the Arizona Governor's Arts Award for 2005
• McCall has served on the Boards of: The Scottsdale Center for the Arts Astronomy of Arizona, University of Arizona, Tucson Arizona Science Center
• Appointed by the Governor, McCall is serving as a member of the Arizona Governor's Space Com - mission
http://www.mccallstudios.com/ 8 “Creativity is harnessing universality and making it flow through your eyes.” Peter Koestenbaum 9