Search Museum of the Moving Image

Concept art, Studies for deep-space vehicle pod, 1965

Description
Concept art of space vehicles for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

Historical note
In the summer of 1965, L.A.-based production company Graphic Films conducted research and created concept sketches for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Earlier that summer, director Stanley Kubrick had seen To the Moon and Beyond, a film with innovative special effects that Graphic Films made for the World’s Fair in New York’s Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Impressed by the way To the Moon and Beyond represented space travel, Kubrick engaged Graphic Films to visualize a moon landing sequence for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Working with an early draft of the script, Graphic Films’ staff—primarily Lester Novros, Con Pederson, and Douglas Trumbull—sketched moonscapes and space vehicles for the film. Shortly after, Pederson and Trumbull left Graphic Films to work directly with Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey as it began production in late 1965.

Accession number
2006.011.0013

Artist(s) / maker(s)
Graphic Films

Dimensions
12 x 18 in.

Material
Graphite on paper, mounted on construction paper

Donor credit
Gift of the Estate of Esther Novros

Location
Not currently on view

The cataloging and digitization of the Museum's collection is made possible by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New York State Council on the Arts.

collection-logos