Rebecca Wichmann, a Fulton native, is studying in Germany for a doctorate degree, and is the recent recipient the Daniel and Florence Guggenehim Fellowship.
Studying at Jacobs University, Bremen, Wichmann is completing research which examines the history of painting collections from the NASA Art Program and the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow.
"These collections aimed to encapsulate the national history and cultural relevance of national spaceflight achievements in fine art," she said. "This research aims to explain how US and USSR space achievements were perceived culturally in their original contexts, and what choices were made by their administration in how to use the visual arts in the documentation of history."
This fellowship will provide Wichmann with research support, archive access and an in-residence mentor over the current academic year towards the completion of her thesis, she said.
Wichmann has previously studied art, art history and Russian culture. She said her fellowship will begin Aug. 1 and will continue until March.
"I am in a 'doctor of art history and theory' program, and specialize in comparative Russian and American culture studies and spaceflight history," she added.
The NASA Art Program was founded in 1962, and invited artists to official NASA facilities to create artwork with the goal of encapsulating the national space program.
"The program included many famous artists like Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder and many others," she said. "The painting collection of the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics fund began in 1961, even though the museum didn't open for another 20 years."
The Russian collection includes little of what was the official Socialist Realism style, and is quite complex, she added.
"Both collections form an interesting discussion about the way space was impacting culture, what art they thought was best for national representation, the goals of national space programs, and also have interesting stories related to their funding," Wichmann said.