THE CAVES OF STEEL
Cover illustration for Isaac Asimov
The composition of this painting is dictated by the "caves" metaphor running through the narrative and reflected in the title. The figures of Baley and Daneel are surrounded by the vast metal "cave" of an Earthly city.
The political tension which provides a nervous undercurrent to the narrative is indicated in the stickers and posters stuck on the escalators—a part of city life since Pompeii and visible, of course, in any contemporary metropolis today.
The problem here was how to reveal Daneel as a robot when he is described as looking exactly like a human being! Fortunately there are a couple of scenes in the book where Daneel "opens up"–literally–and reveals his inner makeup to Bailey.
Additional images from THE CAVES OF STEEL
Share your thoughts…
We’d love to hear your feedback. Please let us know your thoughts, questions, etc!
Like what you see? Subscribe!
We’re posting art every day on Substack. Don’t want to miss anything? Subscribe to get a weekly email including a recap of daily art posts.
To receive every art post by email, you can opt-in by visiting your account and then clicking the toggle for Daily Art.
This always struck me as a much better book to adapt to film than I, Robot, which was a bunch of short stories.