Chris Moore reminded of the fantastic world with high-scene covers of books by science fiction masters like Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clark and Alfred Bester, lending his artistry to Rod Stewart and Fleetwood Mac's albums, and died at his home on February 7th at Charmouth's house on the southwest coast of England. He was 77 years old.
His wife, Katie Moore, announced his death on his Facebook page. She did not quote the cause.
Moore, who creates his name in a crisp, airbrush style that combines the realism details of photographic realism with a leap of imagination, was a well-known figure in the world of science fiction. But you will never hear it from him.
“Call him as the Master, or the Titan of his realm, and he doesn't have it,” Steven Gallagher wrote in an introduction to Journeyman: The Art of Chris Moore, a 2000 collaboration with the artist. “What you're going to get out of him is to admit that you're quiet, satisfying, gross at a time when something in the photo is right.”
Despite his humility, Moore provided memorable interstellar images for various editions of Dick's famous books, including the basis for his novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and the 1982 film “Blade Runner.”
Best known for his visual journey through space, Moore has created a wide range of illustrations. He has created art for several album covers, including Fleetwood Mac's “Penguin” (1973) and Stewart's “Vintage Year 1969-70” (1976), and provided images for magazines such as Omni and Asimov's science fiction. He then designed the wallpaper tied to the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
He considered himself a more craftsman than an artist, but Moore allowed that there was a spell involved in bringing the distant world to life.
“The process of creating these images was a journey of discovery rather than creation,” he said in a 2011 interview with science fiction and fantasy site Red Moon Chronicle. He said “almost 'followed',” he said, “as if it was a combination of some texts you were given, a combination of the series of happy accidents you experienced to arrive at this window in the future.”
Christopher Norton Moore was born on June 1, 1947 in Rotherham, England, in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
“I realized from a very young age what I wanted to do. This had nothing to do with art,” he said in an interview published by Artist Partners, the agency that represents him. “Commercial artists have been my ambitions since I was three or four years old.”
He studied graphic design at the Maidstone College of Art in England, before being accepted by the Royal College of Art in London, focusing on illustrations from 1969 to 1972.
Moore produced the cover of his first book in 1972: a reprint of Lawrence Durrell's novel The Black Book in 1938. Working with Peter Bennett, the art director of the publisher of related books, he was quickly explaining the covers of many publications.
At that point, “I had little realisation of science fiction,” he said.
Moore changes when he marks the British version of “Intro” of Bester's “The Computer Connection” (1975).
In addition to his wife, Mr. Moore is survived by his daughter Georgia Whiting and sons Harry, Robbie and William Moore.
He first exhibited his work at the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow in 1995. There, I realized that there was his original market.
Still, Moore remained immovable by avoiding the noblest attitude of being a great artist. “If anyone wants a picture of a horse to describe their new range of lasagna,” he said in an interview with his agency partner.
