Posted by Ray Katz in NASA, current
Paul Calle, space artist
Some of the artists selected for the NASA Art Program in the 1960s went on to big things. Jamie Wyeth and Peter Hurd became prominent artists…after producing artworks about the early development of America’s space program.
The spacewalker in Paul Calle's 1965 stamp could only be Ed White.
Another participant, Paul Calle, went on to small things. Calle designed postage stamps—including some very wonderful space-themed ones. The two-stamp Gemini set, showing the Gemini spacecraft on one and a spacewalker (clearly Ed White) on the other, was his. So was the stamp showing Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon.
Armstrong and Aldrin carried a die proof of that stamp to the moon…and hand canceled it one the moon.
Calle, of course, did many stamps NOT related to space. But he had deep roots in space illustration—having produced artwork for science fiction publications after returning from service in the Korean War.
Paul Calle died on December 30th, 2010. His artwork lives on.
