Video directed and written by Chris Wooley. Director of photography: Wayne Dickmann. Produced by Historical League, Inc. Narrated by Pat McMahon. Made possible by a financial grant from Dr. Edward B. Diethrich.
Robert T. McCall, a native of Columbus, Ohio, grew up with a fascination for science, technology, and space, combined with an early love of drawing. He considered becoming a physician like his grandfather, but after winning a scholarship to the Columbus College of Art and Design, his vocation was determined. One of his earliest jobs as an artist was making posters for streetcars and outdoor advertising billboards.
Robert McCall joined the Army Air Corps during World War II and was stationed at Kirtland Field near Albuquerque, where he met and married Louise Harrup, who was studying fine art at the University of New Mexico. After the war, he resumed his career as a commercial illustrator for several leading publications. While working for Life magazine, his portrayal of the future of space flight captured the attention of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) who commissioned him, for more than thirty-five years, to help document NASA’s continuing activities.
Promotional paintings for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Star Trek movies and Disney’s The Black Hole brought the artist additional widespread recognition. Robert McCall's diverse creativity allows him to illustrate a tiny postage stamp. The famous twin stamp, named “Decade of Achievement,” was hand-cancelled on the moon before a worldwide TV audience. This was the first of Mr. McCall's twenty-year series of space-related stamps.
Robert McCall’s greatest love is to paint gigantic wall-sized murals. His magnificent and colorful swirling space vistas hang in prestigious locations nationwide, including the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Arizona Industrial Commission Building in Phoenix.
On a 1970 visit to the Valley of the Sun, the McCalls fell in love with the landscape and lifestyle of Arizona and they immediately decided to establish a home with dual studios in Paradise Valley. Robert and Louise McCall have been married more than 50 years and have two daughters. This artistic couple has lovingly collaborated on many projects including the stained glass windows at Valley Presbyterian Chapel and at Sky Harbor International Airport. In addition, the McCall's have worked together on the mural in the Arizona Industrial Commission Building in Phoenix.
Robert McCall has recently been working on designs for the rotunda of the Challenger Learning Center soon to be built in Peoria, Arizona. Arizonans are fortunate that Bob McCall has chosen this state to be the final destination and recipient of his vast collection of 350 paintings, drawings and artifacts that will be housed in the McCall Museum of Space Art adjacent to the Challenger Learning Center in Peoria.
Inducted into the Illustrators’ Hall of Fame in New York, Robert McCall has also received an Honorary Doctorate of Visual Arts from his alma mater.
Mr. McCall is a warm and gentle person who often spends time addressing school children about art. An inspirational individual, he describes his personal philosophy, “To be an artist in these times of explosive change is, for me, a privilege and a challenge. My goal is to document, in my drawings and paintings, a small part of this changing world and to anticipate in my work the brilliant future that lies ahead.”
Historymaker Robert T. McCall biography published in 1999
Historymakers is a registered trademark of Historical League, Inc.