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THE ART OF
ALAN BEAN
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CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ART OF ALAN BEAN
Alan Bean
- Apollo XII astronaut, commander of Skylab II and artist –
was born in 1932 in Wheeler, Texas.
In 1950 Alan Bean was selected for an NROTC scholarship at the
University of Texas at Austin.
In 1955, Alan Bean was commissioned an ensign in the United States
Navy. In
1956 Alan Bean was awarded Naval Aviator Wings. When he
wasn’t flying, Alan Bean always enjoyed painting as a hobby.
Attending night
classes at St. Mary's College in Maryland in 1962 during his years
as a test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center, Alan Bean experimented with
landscapes. In
1963, Alan Bean was selected as an astronaut. On space
voyages, his artist’s eye and talent enabled Alan Bean to document his
impressions so the Moon and space could be preserved later on
canvas. Alan Bean's art
reflects the attention to detail of the aeronautical engineer, the
respect for the unknown of the astronaut and the unabashed
appreciation of a skilled painter.
Alan Bean’s book Apollo:
An Eyewitness Account which chronicles his first-person
experience as an Apollo astronaut in words and paintings was
received with critical and popular acclaim upon its publication in
1998.
Alan Bean
was
the lunar module pilot on Apollo 12, the fourth man to
set foot on the moon, (and the first to eat spaghetti there.) In 1973, Alan Bean served as spacecraft commander of the
Skylab II Mission, logging a record-breaking fifty-nine days and
24,400,000 miles in space.
Alan Bean
also served as backup commander for the joint American-Russian
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.
Alan
Bean also continued to study art, and in 1981 he resigned from NASA to
devote himself full-time to painting.
Alan Bean's work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across
the country, and is
collected by individuals and institutions around the world.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ART OF ALAN BEAN
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