Paul Calle’s Life of Exploration: From the Mountains to the Moon

Paul Calle’s Life of Exploration: From the Mountains to the Moon marks the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon and honors NASA and Western Artist, Paul Calle.

​This retrospective exhibition traces the career of artist Paul Calle (1928-2010), who was best known for painting and drawing the historic American West featuring mountain men, fur traders and Native Americans, as well as NASA artwork and postage stamp designs including the iconic 1969 First Man on the Moon artwork and stamp. On that day, July 16, 1969, Paul Calle, an official artist of NASA, was the only artist present during the pre-launch activities of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, sketching various scenes including breakfast, suiting up and the walk-out to the space craft.​

The exhibition will also showcase artworks that Calle completed while working as an illustrator and graphic artist for sports, medicine and children’s magazines, as well as his paintings and sketches of many famous people 

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website