THE WORLD WE LIVE IN: LIFE MAGAZINE’S GEOLOGIC ART JUST BEFORE THE DAWN OF PLATE TECTONICS

Between 8 December 1952 and 20 December 1954 LIFE magazine published a series of science articles aimed at the general public. The purpose was to show, on a grand-scale, the most up-to-date scientific understanding of the Earth and covered subjects that ranged from the formation of the Earth to the diversity of modern ecological environments. The articles were very popular and they were collected and republished in a large-format book in 1955 and a three-volume “family-edition” in 1962.

As an artifact of our understanding just before the birth of plate tectonics, the beautiful artwork by Rudolph F. Zallinger, Chesley Bonestell, Rudolf Freund, James Lewicki, Antonio Petroccelli, James Perry Wilson, Robert Garland, Simon Greco, Walter and Linsenmaier, and Richard Edes Harrison serves as a valuable record of the history of science and our changing view of the Earth. The first illustration of the series, entitled “The Life of the Earth,” correctly shows the evolution of the earth from nebula, but, incorrectly, shows the continents remaining in their current positions from the beginning. The physical layers of the Earth are hinted at, but no plate boundaries exist, only faults extending to indeterminate depths. Cross-sections illustrate the volcanic systems, but not processes of magma formation.

Four paintings, in particular, have left an iconic legacy. The first, entitled “Rivers of Molten Stone,” and painted by Chesley Bonestell, shows the early Earth. Seen from the view of an observer standing on the Earth’s surface, an ocean of magma extends into the distance as blocks of solidified lava rise through it. Meteors streak through a thunderstorm as a full, unfamiliarly-faced, moon rises aboe the horizon. The internet and textbooks are full of modern versions of this image. The other three images, entitled “Reptiles Inherit the Earth,” The Great Age of Dinosaurs,” and “The Reptiles Return to the Sea,” painted by Rudolph F. Zallinger, captured, for two generations, the most popular view of the Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic. Large, swamp-dwelling dinosaurs, threatened by erupting volcanoes, stretch across an epic landscape.

Although, now known to be largely incorrect, the art of LIFE’s The World We Live In stands as a lasting legacy of how we viewed such things as the formation of the Earth and the dinosaurs in the mid to late-20^th Century.