ART AND THE ANIMAL
The 57th Annual members' show of the Society of Animal Artists
is now open:
David J. Wagner, L.L.C.
Member/President
by David J. Wagner, Ph.D.
Curator/Tour Director
Office Phone: (414) 221-6878
Devoted to promoting excellence in the artistic portrayal of the creatures sharing our planet, and to the education of the public through informative art seminars, lectures and teaching demonstrations.
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Brian Jarvi’s AFRICAN MENAGERIE is a traveling museum exhibition of epic scale, 15 years in the making. The centerpiece of the exhibition was unveiled for a preview on September 16, 2017 at The Reif Center for the Performing Arts, in Grand Rapids, MN, near the artist's home and studio. Over 800 people attended the standing-room-only event.
Click here for a video interview with Brian Jarvi: https://storyboardfilmsmn.wistia.com/medias/66yk27okbu
Click here for a video interview with Brian Jarvi: https://storyboardfilmsmn.wistia.com/medias/66yk27okbu
The centerpiece of Brian Jarvi’s AFRICAN MENAGERIE is comprised of seven interlocking panels, housed in rich walnut cabinetry that form a sweeping, grand panorama 32 feet wide by 14 feet high, depicting the African savannah and the animal kingdom contained therein. Over fifty related research sketches and mixed media studies (approximately half of the artist's output for the project), many of them large, surround the panorama.
Brian Jarvi, who is an award-winning member of The Society of Animal Artists, is widely recognized among the very best painters of African wildlife today. His concept for ”African Menagerie" was spawned from early childhood memories and fascination with both living collections of wild animals, and paintings from the distant past portraying large varied groups of exotic creatures. In his "Menagerie," the gathering of an incredible array of wildlife is set against a grand panoramic backdrop of the receding snows atop Mount Kilimanjaro. All of Africa's icons including the Elephant, Leopard, Giraffe, Rhino, Hippo, and Zebra mingle with such exotics as Bongo, Okapie, and Mandrill, which gaze directly at viewers, in a way that reveals the artist's subtext for the exhibit, namely an Inquisition of Homo sapiens and the plight of threatened and endangered wildlife species.
The project’s storyline was calculatingly intended to dramatize the urgency of the moment to save not just the great iconic species of Africa, but also wildlife across all of our shrinkingly, diverse, environmentally-threatened planet.
In preparation for the creation of "African Menagerie," Jarvi created more than 100 studies in pencil, charcoal, monochromatic oils, mixed media as well as major full-color oils of a multitude of species, six of which have been juried into major exhibitions including The Annual Exhibition of the Annual Exhibition of the prestigious Society of AnimalArtists.
Documenting the project will be a coffee-table book by Todd Wilkinson, author of such books as Last Stand: Ted Turner's Quest to Save a Troubled Planet, and Kent Ullberg: Monuments to Nature. The book is pending publication by Rizzoli Publications, New York.
The complete exhibition of AFRICAN MENAGERIE is scheduled to premiere at The Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, KS from October 1 to December 21, 2017; and tour from January 20 to April 5, 2018 at the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum, Oradell, NJ in the New York City Metropolitan area; and from April 26 to July 15, 2018 to Canton Museum of Art, Canton, OH. Additional Venues are pending.
Photography Credit: Steven M. Tiggemann, TiggCreative
All Works 2017 © Brian Jarvi
Tour Produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C.
http://davidjwagnerllc.com/exhibitions.html#AM
Essay on AFRICAN MENAGERIE by M. Stephen Doherty, MFA
Essay on AFRICAN MENAGERIE by M. Stephen Doherty, MFA
Essay on AFRICAN MENAGERIE by Todd Wilkinson
Sunday, June 11, 2017
ART AND THE ANIMAL
On Display June 3 - September 3, 2017
(about an hour and one-half by car West of Washington, D.C.)
Photos Courtesy of: Anita Baarnes
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Greetings SAA Members!
The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) is excited to announce we are gearing up for tomorrow’s opening of Art and the Animal! The MSV is the final stop on the exhibition’s 2016–17 tour. For more about the exhibition’s display at the MSV, see the media release HERE. Art and the Animal will be on view in the MSV Changing Exhibitions Gallery from June 3 through September 3, 2017. We would love to have you visit as our guest and see the MSV installation of Art and the Animal. Please introduce yourself as one of the exhibition’s artists at the front desk and your admission to the MSV will be on the house. Just minutes from I-81 (901 Amherst St, Winchester, VA), the MSV includes galleries, seven acres of gardens, and the Glen Burnie House. The MSV is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. On Wednesdays through August 30, extended summer hours until 8 p.m. are in effect (thanks to corporate underwriting MSV admission is free to all every Wednesday). We hope to see you at the MSV! Sincerely, Nancy Huth MSV Deputy Director, Arts & Education Above: MSV Director of Exhibitions Corwyn Garman installs Brute Force, a sculpture of an African black rhino by Mick Doellinger, SAA (Fort Worth, Texas). Photo by Rick Foster. |
Monday, April 10, 2017
ARTHUR SINGER: THE WILDLIFE ART OF AN AMERICAN MASTER
"I first read Birds of the World illustrated by Arthur Singer
at age 8 in Sri Lanka. I saved my pocket money for one year to purchase it, it
was my very first bird book. It so inspired me and directly affected my
attention to details and devotion to ornithological art."
Gamini Ratnavira
Artist, Illustrator and Naturalist
Artist, Illustrator and Naturalist
ARTHUR SINGER: THE WILDLIFE ART OF AN AMERICAN MASTER
Authors: Sons, Paul Singer, Alan Singer
Layout and Design: Paul Singer
Introduction, David J. Wagner, Ph.D.
Publisher, Rochester Institute of
Technology Press
Release Date: Late May/Early June
Introduction Excerpt
I am old enough to have professionally known Arthur
Singer during his lifetime, and, though that was long ago, young enough to
still remember him. I first met Arthur Singer in 1977, when he attended the
opening reception of the exhibition that would become known as Birds in Art. At the time, Arthur was 60, I was 25. Today, I remember Arthur Singer as an artist whose
strongest works displayed the subtlest of tonalities and a beauty of patterned
repetition, and as an artist situated squarely in mid-twentieth-century
aesthetics, enterprise, and ideology when it comes to the art of natural
history.
Arthur Singer (1917-1990) enrolled at the Cooper Union
Art School in 1935 and graduated in 1939. Singer remained in art school through the Depression,
only to have World War II stymie his career… but only briefly and in a way that
contributed to his artistic development: in the army he spent 3½ years
designing camouflage for tanks, trucks, and other field equipment for the
military campaign in North Africa.1
After the war, Arthur Singer returned to New York to work
as an art director in a commercial advertising firm where he’d worked after
graduation before the war, and briefly to Cooper Union to teach. In the early
1950s, he started doing free-lance work, including illustrations for nature
articles in Sports Illustrated. His
first big break in bird illustration came when World Book approached him after
bird artist, Don Eckelberry turned down an assignment due to competing
commitments to update its section on ornithology in the encyclopedia. This led
to a commission to illustrate Birds of
the World, published by Golden Books that came out in 1961 and sold in the
hundreds of thousands. A bibliography of other books illustrated by Arthur
Singer followed including Birds of North America published by Golden (the first
real challenge to the Peterson field guide), as well as others including Birds of
Europe published by Hamlyn in 1968, all of which drove Arthur to
work twelve- to thirteen-hour days to produce countless illustrations through
the turbulent sixties and into the 1970s.
Like Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874-1927), Roger Tory Peterson
(1908-1996), and others at the top end of the century’s bird artist hierarchy,
Arthur Singer provided content to a burgeoning publishing industry hungry for
quality illustrations for a print culture booming with commodities such as
magazines, a range of books from tiny scientific field guides to large juvenile
picture books and encyclopedias, and collector prints, stamps, and plates.2
Arthur Singer’s illustrations contributed immensely to
public education and enjoyment of the natural world at a time when the
environmental movement would reach its zenith. His concern for the environment
was both shaped and fulfilled by public and private conservation initiatives,
not the least of which was major legislation such as the Endangered Species
Act.
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| pages from "Arthur Singer: The Wildlife Art of an American Master |
Because Arthur Singer’s art differed from that of
predecessors like Fuertes and Peterson, and from many of those in the next
generation, he was able to distinguish himself as an individual artist with a
signature style. Whereas as the crop of
younger artists coming out of commercial illustration were practicing a new,
photo-realist (some would say feather-counting) aesthetic, Singer took a more
classical, old-school approach, relying instead on a palette of muted colors
and soft, fluid brushwork, but still imbued his work with a modern sense of
design. As one art critic wrote, “His
subtle instinctive often mute color harmonies are unmistakable. But one is
uniquely conscious of an overall design in his carefully thought out
compositions—a dead giveaway of his early graphic design experience.”3
When asked if he worked differently when painting on
assignment versus for the fun of it, Arthur answered, “On an assignment, I may
make many careful progressive drawings before arriving at the final concept.
But my watercolor landscapes may have no wildlife in the scene, and I enjoy the
luxury and risk of the happy accidents that are the special delight of that
medium.”4
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| pages from "Arthur Singer: The Wildlife Art of an American Master |
My personal feeling about the easel paintings that Arthur
Singer submitted for museum exhibitions is that they gave the impression of
ease, much like a great performance by a virtuoso musician who makes his or her
technique look easy to the point of being imperceptible compared to the beauty
of the moment.5 I think it is
fair to say the same thing about the art of Arthur Singer.
David J. Wagner, Ph.D.
Author, American
Wildlife Art
Chief Curator, David J. Wagner, L.L.C.
Tour Director, Society of Animal Artists
Endnotes
1 Abbott Thayer (1849–1921), mentor of Louis Agassiz
Fuertes, literally invented camouflage art in service of World War I.
2 David J.
Wagner, “SLEWAPS: Signed Limited Edition Wildlife Art Photolithographs” (Ph.D.
Dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, published by University
Microfilms International Dissertation Information Service, 1999).
3George Magnan,
“Arthur Singer: In the Path of Audubon,” Today’s
Art and Graphics 29, no. 8, (August 1981).
4Ibid.
5A metaphor
that I believe Arthur Singer would have appreciated, since he was a real jazz
aficionado.
Friday, March 17, 2017
L’art et l’Animal
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Photographies d’artistes: Jocelyn Russell, Debbie Stevens, John Baumlin, Brian Jarvi, Kim Diment.
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L’art et l’Animal
L’Art et L’Animal est l’exposition phare de La Société des Artistes Animaliers et a été présentée dans plus de 50 lieux au cours des 50 dernières années, y compris des musées, des zoos et des centres d’art, culturels et scientifiques aux États-Unis et au Canada.
POUR INFORMATION, CONTACTEZ: 414-221-6878; Davidjwagnerllc@yahoo.com ou visitez davidjwagnerllc.com
Membre de l’Alliance Américaine des Musées et du Conseil International des Musées
La Société des Artistes Animaliers
La Société des Artistes Animaliers est considérée dans le monde entier comme l’association d’artistes la plus prestigieuse consacrée au thème des animaux dans l’art. La Société des Artistes Animaliers a été fondée en 1960. Son siège social est situé dans l’historique Salmagundi Art Club sur la Cinquième Avenue à New York. Les membres de la Société viennent d’Afrique, d’Asie, d’Australie, d’Europe, d’Amérique du Nord et d’Amérique du Sud.
La mission de la Société des Artistes Animaliers est de promouvoir l’excellence dans la représentation des animaux, domestiques ou sauvages, dans l’art. Au cours des 50 dernières années, les oeuvres créées par les membres de la Société des Artistes Animaliers ont établi de nouveaux standards d’excellence artistique dans les Beaux-arts.
L’Art et l’Animal
L’Art et l’Animal est l’exposition phare de La Société des Artistes Animaliers. L’Art et l’Animal se réfère à la fois à l’exposition annuelle de la Société des Artistes Animaliers, et à la tournée de l’exposition itinérante qui est générée à partir de l’exposition annuelle. Le réputé expert en Art sur la faune et auteur de l’Art Américain sur la Faune sauvage, Dr. David J. Wagner, sert en tant que directeur de tournée pour l’Art et l’Animal. En tant que tel, il est responsable de l’organisation annuelle des expositions, de la tournée et de la gestion de l’exposition itinérante. L’Art et l’Animal a été présentée dans plus de 50 lieux, dont des musées, des zoos et des centres d’art, culturels et scientifiques en Amérique du Nord au cours des 50 dernières années. Seul le meilleur de l’art animalier est sélectionné pour l’Art et l’Animal. Par conséquent, il est extrêmement difficile, et donc prestigieux, pour les artistes d’avoir leur travail artistique accepté dans l’exposition.
Associant l’histoire naturelle et les beaux-arts de manière créative, les membres de la SAA concourent pour que leur travail soit inclus dans les expositions annuelles choisies par un jury composé de membres de la SAA qui se réunissent au Salmagundi Club à New York chaque printemps. En outre, un jury décernant les récompenses, composé d’experts distingués avec les qualifications les plus importantes possibles qui ne sont pas membres de la SAA, est chargé, avec la difficile tâche, d’examiner les expositions annuelles dans le but de reconnaître les plus hautes réalisations et de décerner des prix aux artistes respectifs. Les artistes qui ont remporté cinq prix ou plus se voient attribuer le statut spécial de “Membre avec une signature de Maître,” ce qui les exonère de passer par les futures sélections du jury et leur travail figure automatiquement dans les Expositions annuelles. Parmi les artistes actuels et actifs, on peut citer: Charles Allmond, Chris Bacon, Gerald Balciar, Robert Bateman, Burt Brent, Carel P. Brest van Kempen, Guy Coheleach, Walter Matia, Léo E. Osborne, Sherry Salari Sander, Kent Ullberg et Sue Westin.
La première de l’Exposition annuelle et la tournée
L’exposition annuelle de la Société des Artistes Animaliers contient généralement plus de 120 oeuvres de peintures, dessins et sculptures. L’exposition itinérante l’Art et l’Animal est composée d’environ 45 peintures et dessins et de 15 sculptures. Chaque automne, une toute nouvelle exposition l’Art et l’Animal est choisie dans l’exposition annuelle pour représenter la SAA en tournée. Les sites de la tournée comprennent généralement un mélange à parts égales d’institutions artistiques et d’histoire naturelle. Par exemple, après sa première à l’Institut d’Histoire Naturelle Roger Tory Peterson à Jamestown, NY, l’Itinéraire de la tournée 2005-2006 comprenait le Musée d’Art Hiram Blauvelt à Oradell, dans la grande région métropolitaine de New York; Le musée du désert de Sonora Arizona à Tucson, AZ; et le musée d’art de Canton dans l’Ohio. En Septembre 2010, le zoo de San Diego a organisé une Journée spéciale de la Société des Artistes Animaliers en conjonction avec la première de l’exposition annuelle du 50e anniversaire au Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de San Diego. L’exposition annuelle de 2016 a été organisée par le Musée des sciences naturelles de Houston.
OPPORTUNITÉS D’EXPOSITION SUPPLÉMENTAIRE
SCULPTURE EN EXTÉRIEURE—De 2002 à 2007, la Société des Artistes Animaliers a organisé une sélection annuelle de grandes sculptures monumentales en plein air pour une exposition au siège de la Société du National Geographic à Washington, DC. Les sculptures de la Société des Artistes Animaliers peuvent être exposées à l’extérieur dans d’autres institutions.
LE BÉNÉFICE DES EXPOSITIONS—La Société des Artistes Animaliers a organisé des expositions avantageuses comme celle organisée depuis de nombreuses années pour profiter du parc d’état de MacArthur Beach à Palm Beach, en Floride, et d’autres.
PROGRAMMES ÉDUCATIFS—tels que les signatures de livres et les conférences de l’auteur américain David J. Wagner, Ph.D. sont disponibles.
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