Robert Watson was a brilliant artist, whose work usually depicted a solitary figure in the midst of a strange, surreal landscape. Ray Bradbury was a great admirer of his work and, in 1958, the second edition of THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES was published by Doubleday with dust jacket art by Mr. Watson. Unfortunately, instead of the blue background in the original art, which was the preference of both Mr. Watson and Ray, Doubleday changed the color to red for the dust jacket. In 1995, a limited edition print of Watson's painting, in the correct blue color, was issued. The print was signed by Ray and Mr. Watson. The two men then proceeded to go on a tour to various galleries which sold the print. Clicking on the link below will take you to an interesting 1995 interview with both Ray and Mr. Watson that took place during their tour on a show called West Coast Live:
And the link below will take you to a picture of Mr. Watson's art for THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES with the original blue background preferred by both Ray and the artist:
If you would like to read more about the art gallery tour that Robert Watson and Ray Bradbury took, promoting the signed, limited edition print of Mr. Watson's art for THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, the link below will take you to an article about that tour which appeared in the Washington Post in 1995:
The Washington Post article notes that Ray bought the painting used for that cover for $300. The painting subsequently sold at the September, 2014 Ray Bradbury estate auction held by the Nate Sanders auction house for $22,986 (!):
Reading Mr. Bradbury Mars tales and enjoying so many artistic expressions painted, poeted, and paralleled to his works... I have been to the Red Planet many times.
Looking for a gift for the Ray Bradbury fan who has almost everything? Or maybe for yourself, since you didn't get that Corvette you wanted for Christmas? A dealer on the Etsy website is selling a couple of the Ray Bradbury/Robert Watson signed prints of the dust jacket art from the Doubleday 1950's re-issue of THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, with the blue background both men preferred. Below is a link with additional information: