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skyandtelescope.com • SEPTEMBER 2019 61“He was basically saying, ‘It’s out there, now go out and visit
it yourself.’ It’s quite an accomplishment to have reached the
American public in a way that captivated their imagination
and touched that uniquely American spirit to explore new
territories. I think that’s one of Bonestell’s greatest contribu-
tions to our society.”
It took Stewart nearly three and a half years to research,
write, and produce A Brush with the Future, with vital insights
from Bonestell biographer and fellow space artist Ron Miller,
Bonestell historian Melvin Schuetz, and many others. The
documentary premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival
in May 2018, winning the Audience Award for Art, Architec-
ture and Design.
“I never met Chesley Bonestell, but as a young man I saw
his paintings in science fi ction magazines and on book cov-
ers,” Stewart says. “There is something absolutely unforget-
table about his images, and that’s why they are so infl uential.
Being in show business, I thought that someone surely had
made a fi lm about him, but no one had.”Bonestell was born in San Francisco on January 1, 1888,
and as a teenager survived the 1906 earthquake that destroyed
much of the city and killed 700–800 people. A year earlier, he
had gotten his fi rst look at a world beyond our own when he
viewed Saturn through the telescope at the Lick Observatory
outside San Jose. Thrilled by what he had witnessed, he raced
home to create his fi rst astronomical painting, only to lose it
in a fi re sparked by the 1906 quake. The San Francisco catas-
trophe deeply affected Bonestell and served to inform much
of his later work, including a painting created for Collier’s in
1950 depicting the nuclear destruction of Manhattan.
At the urging of his family, Bonestell attended Columbia
University with an eye toward becoming an architect, but
he left school in his third year. He nevertheless worked for a
variety of architectural fi rms and found a mentor in Willis
Polk, who was instrumental in shaping San Francisco both
before and after the 1906 earthquake. Bonestell demon-
strated great skill in combining his artistic ability with a deep
understanding of architectural design to create renderings
that helped laypeople easily understand even the most com-
plex structures. This skill would prove invaluable when he
worked with Ley and von Braun in designing realistic space-
ships, space stations, and other futuristic hardware.
People who know Bonestell primarily as an astronomical
artist are often surprised to learn of his architectural back-
ground. But Stewart notes that his fi ngerprints are all over a
great number of well-known American buildings, including
the Chrysler Building in New York, the U.S. Supreme Court
Building, the New York Central Building (now known as the
Helmsley Building), and several state capitols. He also was
involved in the design of Filoli, the large California estate
featured as a backdrop in the TV series Dynasty.
“Bonestell’s architectural background gave him a sense
of precision, of a connection with the basic laws and rules
of how the universe works,” observes Stewart. “He was apINFORMED ILLUSTRATION French astronomer and artist Lucien
Rudaux drew on his knowledge of both fi elds to portray the solar sys-
tem, as shown in this depiction of Mars as seen from its moon Deimos.
Bonestell owned and drew inspiration from Rudaux’s books.