Check out 2001: A Space Odyssey concept art by Harry Lange!
Every Friday I feature artwork from a classic of science fiction film. This week's "Flashback Friday" post is on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
2001: A Space Odyssey is a masterpiece of science fiction cinema and one of director Stanley Kubrick's greatest works.
Harry Lange - along with Anthony Masters and Ernest Archer - was nominated for the Academy Award for "Best Art Direction" and won a BAFTA thanks to this film.
Hans "Harry" Kurt Lange, who sadly passed away in 2008, was a professional illustrator, film production designer and art director. He worked on many classics of science fiction including on all three of the Star Wars films, Superman II (1980) and The Dark Crystal (1982).
These images are from his site www.harry-lange.org.uk which is run by his son John. These illustrations were also shown in the Museum of Oxford's 2001 exhibition.
Check out the rest of the pictures after the jump (click to enlarge).
Lange, who was a former NASA illustrator, told BBC what it was like to work with Kubrick on the film.
"I was virtually the first person, and the last person, to work on the project with Stanley Kubrick. I got along with him very well. He was an absolute stickler for detail and a good taskmaster. That was fine with me, because I was new to filmmaking.
"I met Stanley through Arthur C Clarke - a friend from my NASA days - who told me he was collaborating with Kubrick on filming one of his stories.
"Late that night, I got a phone call from Stanley, saying he'd like to meet me the next morning at his penthouse overlooking Central Park.
"He looked at my artwork and said: 'I can get better illustrators in New York for a dime a dozen - but they don't have your ability plus your scientific background. Would you be interested in designing the ships for this film?'
"These had to be designed as if they could travel to the edge of the Solar System and beyond."
"I met Stanley through Arthur C Clarke - a friend from my NASA days - who told me he was collaborating with Kubrick on filming one of his stories.
"Late that night, I got a phone call from Stanley, saying he'd like to meet me the next morning at his penthouse overlooking Central Park.
"He looked at my artwork and said: 'I can get better illustrators in New York for a dime a dozen - but they don't have your ability plus your scientific background. Would you be interested in designing the ships for this film?'
"These had to be designed as if they could travel to the edge of the Solar System and beyond."
Compare what the suit looked like in the final film to the concept art:
See more of Harry Lange's work at www.harry-lange.org.uk.
Click on the links if you want to see more of Harry Lange's illustrations and 2001: A Space Odyssey on my blog.
What do you think of the storyboards? If you've seen 2001: A Space Odyssey what did you think?
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Official 2001: A Space Odyssey Description
A Kubrick masterpiece that spans from the dawn of man to it's title year when an alien artifact is found on the moon. An expedition is launched to Jupiter to track it's origins.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth
Producton Design by Ernest Archer, Anthony Masters, Harry Lange
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Douglas Rain
Release date: April 2, 1968 (USA)
Official Site: http://kubrickfilms.warnerbros.com
© Copyright 1968 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros Pictures. All rights reserved
Clearly I'm a huge fan of this movie. The art and the movie itself were way ahead of its time. The scientific accuracy of the film is what I love about it. I read somewhere else that Kubrick had all of the sets destroyed for some reason?
ReplyDeleteGood that those images weren't lost. And he met him through Clarke? Very cool.
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