In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.[1] This event sparked the Space Race, leading the United States and the Soviet Union to compete for technological superiority. While the astronauts of the Space Race are a key memory of any Cold War era conversation, a lesser-discussed group are the artists who helped to envision the possibilities of this new futuristic world. Both NASA and the Soviet space program hired artists to help win public support for each nation’s efforts to bolster their own space programs.[2] Some of NASA’s artists were well-known in their own right, such as Robert Rauschenberg and Norman Rockwell.[3] But NASA also hired artists not just for propagandistic purposes, but to document NASA’s various space missions and imagine what Soviet programs they were competing against.[4] One of these artists was Francis “Van” Van Tine (1915–2008).
Van was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1915 and grew up in New York City with his six brothers. After the stock market crash of 1929, at age 14, he left school to work as a page boy at Chase Bank on Wall Street and became the sole supporter of his large family.[5] During World War II, he was drafted and served in the U.S. Army. While at Camp Hood, Texas, he designed the tank-eating panther emblem for the U.S. Tank Destroyer forces.[6] He volunteered to become a tail-gunner in the Army Air Corp, figuring he stood a better chance up in the sky than in a hole in the ground.
In 1956, Van, his wife Evelyn Haynes Van Tine (1915–2000), and their son Robin (b. 1947) moved to Merritt Island, Florida, so Van could work as a comptroller at Patrick Airforce Base. Evelyn captured their humble new beginnings in this new land with her essay “Merritt Island Romance,” where she remembers their discovery of banana trees and their attempts to create a wintery Christmas in sunny Florida.[7] At age 45, Van made a bold career move: he became an artist for NASA at Cape Canaveral, painting images of anticipated future space missions.[8]
Van was present for Project Mercury, Project Gemini, and the Apollo missions, where some of his works orbited the Earth in the Titan III capsule.[9] One of his first contributions was designing the flag for the Air Force Eastern Test Range.[10] This illustration was used as the logo for the Missileer newspaper on the base. In one of his most intriguing works, Van envisioned a model of a Russian space platform, complete with cosmonauts and other possible space technologies.
In 1967, this concept was included in U.S. and German air force base displays called “Know Your Competition,” which predicted Soviet interplanetary probes and the use of solar power.[11] A few of Van’s works were displayed in the Space Museum at Cape Kennedy, one of which was presented to President Lyndon Johnson.[12]
By 1971, Van became the sole civilian illustrator and top artist at Patrick Air Force Base.[13] Not only were his works integral to the space program, but they had achieved some success in the private world as well. One example is his full-page advertisement in Glamour magazine used to recruit nurses to the aerospace program.[14] The painting imagines a permanent space hospital for the U.S. Air Force, and encourages women to “do their bit for the universe.”[15] Van continued to create illustrations and paintings for NASA, and his training guides became standard in many air force manuals across the U.S.[16]
Van was not the only artistic one in the family, however. While Van pictured the possibilities of space adventures, Evelyn dreamed of the potential that the Earth held for its inhabitants. As a lover of plants and animals, Evelyn held nature in a deep spiritual regard.[17] Evelyn wrote poems, essays, and short stories on a variety of subjects, although usually these tales centered around the rich treasures of nature. In 1966, Evelyn wrote and illustrated a children’s book titled In My Yard, which documented the flora and fauna she came into contact with in her meticulously maintained garden. This book was shipped to South Vietnam as a present for Vietnamese children during Christmastime.[18] Despite the popularity of the book among troops and children alike, Evelyn remained modest about her efforts, stating, “My husband is the real artist in the family.”[19]
Evelyn and Van often worked together on various projects, where Evelyn was the writer and Van was the illustrator. Their most ambitious project was a book about plants that could be safely foraged and eaten. Contracted by the Great Outdoors Publishing Company, Edible Wild Plants of Florida covered nettles, yuccas, greens, cattails, and many more wild plants suitable for human consumption.[20] While Van drew the artwork for the book, Evelyn utilized her extensive knowledge of gardening and seed preservation to provide the written text.
After the Apollo program ended, Van put his artistic talents to work to benefit oppressed members of society. As a lifelong advocate for civil rights and cultural inclusivism, Van worked as the staff artist for the Defense Race Relations Institute (DRRI).[21] Created in 1971, the DRRI sought to address the problems of segregation and racial discrimination within the military.[22] The DRRI created a series of training courses on African American soldiers, Asian and Native American relationships with the U.S. government, Appalachian culture, and black militant groups.[23] Van created the artwork for these syllabi and other DRRI training programs until he retired in 1982.
While Van continued to draw, Evelyn continued to write. She published both locally and nationally, receiving a variety of awards for her poetry and prose, even becoming the runner-up for Poet Laurette of Florida.[24] In 1978, Evelyn was awarded the Individual Artist Fellowship Award for Literature by the Fine Arts Council of the State of Florida. This award coupled with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts allowed her to write In Love with Life, a poetry collection with a cover drawn by Van.[25]
In Love with Life includes sixty poems that chronicle Evelyn’s interpersonal relationships, childhood memories, and her love of nature. Evelyn even documented the last Apollo mission in her poem “The Night of Apollo 17”:
Huge bull ‘gators roared, bright roosters crowed
That night when woodland streams and ocean glowed
With manmade early dawn. The thundering
Woke hawks and herons, mallards, terns, to bring
Erratic startled flight. The hidden nest
Of rabbit lighted bright, she hid with vest
Of softest fur her naked babies there.
Racoons looked up with shocked masked bandit stare.
This dawn came up like thunder, louder still
Than loudest from the storm god’s skies, until
This flying chariot of rising sun
Driven by three men went soaring from
Green Earth. Watched by a hundred million eyes
It seared new paths through infinite black skies.[26]
Van played banjo and formed a 16-piece big band for retirees called the Silver Tones, where the only requirement was that one must have silver hair to join.[27] The Silver Tones played in convalescent homes with the hopes of bringing a little cheer to those in the retirement community.
After Evelyn’s death in 2000, Van moved to Newport News, Virginia, to live with his son’s family.[28] He remained active by canoeing, playing pool, and, of course, drawing and painting. Van died in 2008, but his and Evelyn’s legacy live on. They both created art during trying times in America, but their collective efforts brought a sense of wonder and hope that a new magical world was possible.[29]
Update: Since the publication of this blog post, Sotheby’s in New York recently held a “Space Exploration” auction featuring memorabilia from various American and Soviet space programs.[30] Van’s work titled “NASA Mission to Mars” was sold to his nephew, Dennis Van Tine.
Footnotes:
[1] Steve Garber, “Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration, October 2007.
[2] “Posters of the Golden Age of Soviet Cosmonauts,” BBC News, September 2015.
[3] Lois Rosson, “The Art of Air and Space,” National Air and Space Museum Magazine, August 2016.
[4] Burt Ulrich, “NASA and the Arts,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration, August 2008.
[5] Robin van Tine, “Obituary for Francis Van Tine,” Hampton Daily Press, November 2008.
[6] Steven J. Zaloga, M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyer 1943–97, illustrated by Jim Laurier (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2004), 44.
[7] Evelyn Van Tine, “Merritt Island Romance,” illustrated by Francis Van Tine, Sunrise Today, July 1972, 2.
[8] Robin van Tine and Tristan van Tine, Email to author, May 13, 2017.
[9] van Tine, “Obituary.”
[10] John Lucas, “Base Artist Designs Second Missileer Flag,” Missileer, November 1966.
[11] John Lucas, “‘Know Your Competition’ Features Space Probes.” Missileer, August 1967.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Chris Bruton, “Ex-Accountant Becomes Top Artist” Melbourne Times, May 1971, 5.
[14] Sarah Garvin, Letter from Department of the Air Force regarding space hospital illustration for Bioastronautics Division. January 18, 1968.
[15] Francis Van Tine, Department of the Air Force space hospital advertisement. Glamour, May 1968.
[16] Bruton, “Ex-Accountant,” 5.
[17] van Tine, Email.
[18] John Hepp, “Patrick Wife Makes Picture Books to Brighten the Lives of Vietnamese,” Missileer, October 1966.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Chris Brurton, “Book to Feature Wild Edible Plants,” Melbourne Times, date unknown.
[21] The Defense Race Relations Institute is now called the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute. The curriculum has since been extended beyond a study of racism to include studies of sexism and religious intolerance.
[22] “History,” Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, 2017.
[23] Syllabi for “Afro American History,” “The History of the Black Soldier,” “Appalachia: Southern Mountain Folk Culture,” “Fanon: New Messiah of Black Militants,” “What Do Asians Want,” and “The Non-Vanishing Indian,” Defense Race Relations Institute (Brevard County: Patrick Air Force Base, 1971–1975).
[24] van Tine, Email.
[25] Evelyn Van Tine, In Love with Life, illustrated by Francis Van Tine (Pittsburgh: Dorrance & Company, 1979), 1.
[26] Ibid., 12.
[27] Beverly Williams, “Tune-Ups for Retirees,” Daily Press, 2001, 12.
[28] van Tine, Email.
[29] A collection of art and poetry by Van and Evelyn is currently being compiled into an art book by the author. A special thanks to the van Tine family for informing this article, and to Kat Wicklund for assisting the author with scanning the images.
[30] “Space Exploration,” Sotheby’s, July 2017.
By Shalon van Tine