Book Signing at the Art and the Animal reception

American Wildlife Art

Book signing!

Friday, October 5, 2012

The Society of Animal Artists

52nd Annual Exhibition Artists’ Reception

The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum

Oradell, NJ

David J. Wagner, Ph.D., will autograph copies of his book, AMERICAN WILDLIFE ART,  at the Friday, October 5 Reception for the 52nd Annual Exhibition of The Society of Animal Artists at The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum.   Proceeds will benefit The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum thanks to a generous donation by The Susan Kathleen Black Foundation.

American Wildlife Art...
Bookshelves abound with accounts of wildlife artists and their artistry, but no book is truly comparable to American Wildlife Art. In American Wildlife Art, scholar David J. Wagner, tells the story of this popular genre’s history, shaped by four centuries of cultural events and aesthetic and ideological trends, from its beginnings in colonial times to the monumental works of the present day. In his insightful accounts of the artists, events, and trends at the heart of this uniquely American art form, Wagner explains how the aesthetic idioms and imagery of American wildlife art have evolved, how its ecological ideologies have changed with changing circumstances and ideas about animals and their habitats, and how artists and entrepreneurs developed and influenced the market for wildlife art.

Wagner’s history begins with the works of John White and Mark Catesby, artists who documented the flora and fauna of the New World and presented Europeans with a view of both the economic potential and the natural wonders of the then sparsely settled continent. After the American Revolution, as the new nation grew, artists such as Alexander Wilson and especially John James Audubon caused the course of American wildlife art history to turn and advance, setting the stage for Arthur Tait’s collaboration with Currier & Ives, which brought wildlife art to the masses,  and the work of Edward Kemeys, whose impressionistic sculpture captured the essence of disappearing wildlife like the wolf and buffalo at the same time that prominent Americans like John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt promoted wilderness preservation and the ethics of sportsmanship. As Wagner’s narrative moves to the twentieth century and beyond, it embraces in revealing detail the lives of artists Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Carl Rungius, painters who were among the most influential wildlife artists of their time. Wagner’s account concludes with portraits of recent and contemporary wildlife artists such as Ray Harm, Robert Bateman, Bob Kuhn, Roger Tory Peterson, Stanley Meltzoff, and Kent Ullberg—artists whose work at once departs from and embodies the legacies, traditions, and innovations that informed and preceded it.

Through a rich array of illustrations and its incisive text, American Wildlife Art will appeal to collectors, conservationists, and artists—to everyone who already enjoys wildlife art or who is learning about it for the first time. Wagner’s authoritative and even-handed prose brings this compelling art form to life, reminding us of the treasures found on America’s wild lands.

David J. Wagner...
David Wagner joined the Society of Animal Artists as Tour Director in 1987. He served as Director of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum from 1977 to 1987.  David has also served as Curator of the Society of Animal Artists sculpture courtyard at National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. from 2002 - 2007.  He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota and wrote his award-winning, two-volume dissertation on wildlife art prints.

   

Biodiversity in the art of...

HIRAM BLAUVELT ART MUSEUM EXTENDS

BIODIVERSITY IN THE ART OF

CAREL PIETER BREST van KEMPEN

The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum has extended its display of BIODIVERSITY IN THE ART OF CAREL PIETER BREST van KEMPEN through June 30, 2012.  The exhibit was originally scheduled to close there on March 31, 2012.  Motivating the Blauvelt were several tour groups which will be traveling to the Blauvelt to view the exhibit in April and May.  Of the extension, David J. Wagner said, "The last exhibits I produced that were extended by popular demand and special requests from major venues were The Art of Robert Bateman at the McMichael Canadian Art Museum near Toronto, and Kent Ullberg: A Retrospective at The Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha."  "I am totally ecstatic and so happy for Carel, since the Blauvelt now has not only premiered his body-of-work on the East Coast, but also validated its success with a huge exclamation point!"

            The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum serves New Jersey and the greater metropolitan area of New York City.  BIODIVERSITY IN THE ART OF CAREL PIETER BREST van KEMPEN was previously displayed at The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ; The Wildlife Experience (museum) in Denver, CO; and The Wildling Art Museum near Santa Barbara, CA.

Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen is a painter of Dutch descent, who explores the rich diversity of the natural world from exceptionally unique perspectives.  The artist’s self-stated goal is to say as much as he can about how organisms live and interact with other organisms and their environments.  Brest van Kempen, who is also interested in prehistoric subject matter, paints from first-hand experience and knowledge.  He has traveled across Africa and Central and South America, and studied both threatened and extinct species and their ecosystems in detail. 

            Since he was a child, Brest van Kempen has always been a student of nature.  He spent his youth exploring untracked back country along the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains; drawing, studying, and collecting native flora and fauna.  As a boy, Brest van Kempen practiced falconry and bred lizards.  He began drawing wildlife when he was only three years old and created his first painting at the age of twelve.  At the University of Utah, his studies focused on biology, which he hoped to teach, and field work.  By 1988, his interests in art and nature matured to the point where he could pursue a full-time career of painting.  Though Brest van Kempen is among the most highly accomplished technicians in the entire art world, and among the most creative, he is essentially self-taught.  Brest van Kempen paints in a highly realistic manner.  Unique in the world of wildlife art, Brest van Kempen’s approach is reminiscent of the art of Salvador Dali, which has always fascinated him. There is no other wildlife artist who paints like Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen; his approach and style is truly unique.

Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen has exhibited his works throughout the world and earned numerous awards.  He is a member of the prestigious Society of Animal Artists which has awarded him awards on multiple occasions, including their highest honor, the Award of Excellence, in 1994, 1996, 1997, 2004, and 2010. Public collections containing his works include the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Springville Art Museum, the Woodson Art Museum, The World Center for Birds of Prey, and Vermont’s Bennington Center for the Arts.

            A book entitled, Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding—The Art of Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen, which was written by the artist, and which includes a Foreword by Belgian painter, Carl Brenders, and an Introduction by Curator, Dr. David J. Wagner, was published by Eagle Mountain Publishing and is available at Eagle Mountain Publishing at (801) 789-4149 or empub@msn.com.

      

BIODIVERSITY IN THE ART OF CAREL PIETER BREST van KEMPEN is produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C.


(RC Via DW)