The Moon Museum

Forrest Myers American
1969
Not on view
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.
The Moon Museum was the first work of art to travel to the moon. Myers, a sculptor, worked with engineers from Bell Laboratories to create an edition of tiny ceramic tiles inscribed with drawings by him and five other American artists. One of the tiles was covertly attached to the Apollo 12 spacecraft and left on the lunar surface. Myers contributed the drawing of interlocking lines at lower left. Above it, Andy Warhol (1928–1987) scrawled his initials, which also read as a crude phallic rocket ship. At top center is a line drawn by Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008). On the right are drawings by David Novros (born 1941) and John Chamberlain (1927–2011) based on circuitry diagrams; and at bottom center is a sketch of Mickey Mouse by Claes Oldenburg (born 1929).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Moon Museum
  • Artist: Forrest Myers (American, born Long Beach, California 1941)
  • Date: 1969
  • Medium: Lithograph of tantalum nitride on ceramic wafer
  • Dimensions: 1/2 × 3/4 in. (1.3 × 1.9 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Collection of Forrest W. Myers
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs