RIP Chris Moore

Esteemed British science fiction artist Chris Moore has sadly passed away at the age of 77. Moore is best-known for his memorable covers for Gollancz books, including for their SF Masterworks line, and his frequent art for the likes of Alastair Reynolds and William Gibson.

Picking a single representative piece of art for Chris Moore is impossible, but his cover for Steven Erikson's debut novel Gardens of the Moon was very striking.

Moore was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire in 1947. He was educated at Mexborough Grammar School and Doncaster Art School. In 1972 he joined forces with Michael Morris to form Moore Morris Ltd., and worked on graphic design and cover art for book, magazine and record covers, operating out of Covent Garden in London. The partnership dissolved in 1980, when Moore moved out of the capital. During his time there he'd created cover art for artists including Rod Stewart, Journey, Fleetwood Mac, Status Quo, Pentangle and Rick Wakeman.

Moore's artwork for the SF Masterworks edition of The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

In 1974, art director Peter Bennet suggested that Moore start creating covers for science fiction novels, a genre Moore had little interest in or knowledge of (outside of seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey). But Moore agreed and was soon producing art for new books and reprints alike of Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven, Anne McCaffrey, Clifford D. Simak and Arthur C. Clarke. Heading into the 1980s, he also become a preferred cover artist for mainstream authors including Jeffrey Archer, Jackie Collins and Wilbur Smith.

Moore's minimalist cover for Alastair Reynolds' debut novel Revelation Space helped make the novel a huge success.

In 1989 Moore was sought out to produce concept art for Stanley Kubrick's A.I., but Kubrick took against Moore's agent and tried to go around him to employ Moore directly, which Moore felt was unethical so passed on the opportunity.

Moore's cover for a 1980s reprint of Philip K. Dicks' Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, drawing on the movie version Blade Runner for inspiration.

A full list of Moore's iconic artwork is impossible to write with any kind of conciseness, but his 1980s and 1990s artwork for Philip K. Dick reprints and Arthur C. Clarke were particularly memorable, along with his work on the SF Masterworks series in the 2000s. He was particularly closely linked with Alastair Reynolds, with his moody, minimalist designs of spaceships and asteroids backdropped against planets giving the Reynolds books an immediately recognisable design.

Chris Moore passed away at home on 7 February. A very fine artist with a great eye for SF visions, he will be missed.