1967
Crater Aristarchus, Schroter's Valley, and Vicinity
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
@nationalaeronauticsandspaceadministrationnasaThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NYListen to curator's interpretation
Curatorial notes
This image of Crater Aristarchus, Schroter's Valley, and Vicinity was made by NASA, with light, and I guess, a camera. It's all about process; the process of light hitting a surface, the process of capturing that with technology. Look at the craters; they're like brushstrokes, aren't they? Or maybe each one is like a canvas in itself, holding light and shadow in its own way. The grayness gives it this kind of solemn feel, but then you see the details. There is a particular crater on the left that is like a perfect circle with a delicate, almost feminine rim, a single dark dot. It reminds me of the early black and white photography of Alfred Stieglitz, where everything is about tone and texture. It's more than just a photo, it's an idea, a conversation between us and the cosmos. Art is about ambiguity, and this image holds that ambiguity so well.