Alternative Human Evolution, color printed magazine illustration. Artist: Lucien Rudaux, c. 1938.
This illustration is linked to the work of French astronomer and illustrator Lucien Rudaux and naturalist and sci-fi writer René Thévenin, whose concepts for speculative human-animal hybrids were published in 1938 in The American Weekly, a Hearst Sunday supplement. Making its way across a rocky mountain slope, the figure - combining a human torso with insect legs - reflects one of these visions of alternative evolution. In the same context, designs of humans with gills, octopus tentacles, or firefly-like bioluminescence were also presented to readers right at the boundary of popular science and fantastical imagination.
Lucien Rudaux wasn't just an illustrator of fantastical imagery. As an astronomy writer and observer, he's also recognized as a pioneer of early space art, known for depicting lunar and planetary landscapes grounded in scientific data.