I became familiar with Karl Benjamin's work last year at the Birth of Cool exhibit at the Blanton Museum. The above painting stood out among a stunning group of other abstract paintings in the exhibit. I love his work from the 50's but equally as exciting is more recent stuff from the 80's and 90's. Apparently the artist, who is now 84 now, stopped painting in 1995.
In 1955 Disneyland teamed up with Howard Hughes to introduce the "TWA Moonliner", where tourists could experience what a day trip to the Moon would be like. It was the centerpiece of Tomorrowland into the 1970s. For awhile, the trip was even a regularly scheduled TWA flight. It was eighty feet tall - eight feet taller than Sleeping Beauty's castle.
As part of the promotion, Hughes also built the TWA Moonliner II, a 35-foot version of the Disneyland rocket. In 1956, the replica was mounted onto the roof of TWA's new downtown Kansas City office at 18th Street and Baltimore.
But Hughes and Disney ended their partnership, rendering the Moonliner obsolete. The original was destroyed -but, in Kansas City, TWA took the smaller version off its roof and sold it to a travel-trailer company called SpaceCraft.
Thirty years later, a lawyer from Columbia who collects Disney memorabilia bought the rusting rocket and began restoring it.
Two months ago the old TWA Building renovation was completed, which includes an exact replica of the Moonliner II.
