BONESTELL, CHESLEY

Oil on board, painted over a print of the Lunar Orbiter frame II-162H, 9 by 13 inches, matted, glazed and framed to 18 x 23 inches.

Ex Collection of Frederick C. Durant, III

Illustrated in: Durant, Fred and Ron Miller, Worlds Beyond. The Art of Chesley Bonestell, p. 21; Miller, Space Art, Starlog Press, p. 27; Frank, Jane & Howard, Great Themes from the Frank Collection, pp. 44-45.

Wear around edge of board, which is in three pieces - top portion added to enable work to be adapted for publication on inside cover of a magazine; light wear along edges of top portion;light wear and surface abrasions. Please note the salesroom notice on this lot: Please note that this lot is not painted over a print of Lunar Orbiter frame II-162H, but does depict Lunar Orbiter fame II-162H. It has been prepared in Bonestell's frequent technique of painting over photographs that he shuttered himself.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Based on the “Picture of the Century,” an oblique photograph taken by Lunar Orbiter II this popular scene was first published as the inside front cover illustration for the October 1969 issue of Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, with the caption "Russian astronauts have arrived on the rim of Copernicus only to discover the Americans have already been there..." It subsequently appeared in the April 1978 issue of Future Life magazine, Ron Miller's Space Art in 1978, the July 1979 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine, and Fred Durant and Ron Miller's 1983 work, Worlds Beyond. If one looks very closely at the lower right hand portion of the work, one can see one of the Russian Cosmonauts pointing to the area just below Bonestell's signature, where one can see some trash, presumably left there by the American astronauts who got there first.