ART: Images of endangered species extend artistic tradition

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By Deborah K. Dietsch

From cave dwellers' murals to Winslow Homer watercolors, representations of flora and fauna comprise the oldest, most enduring form of visual art. Yet today, they are too often dismissed as the sentimental stuff of calendars and greeting cards rather than being valued as worthy of serious study.

Scholar and curator David J. Wagner hopes to restore credibility to such images. He makes a strong case for their renewed appreciation through a new book and a touring exhibition, now on view at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

"American Wildlife Art," published in February by Seattle-based Marquand Books, surveys naturalistic art from Colonial-era book illustrations to present-day public sculptures. In this comprehensive, well-illustrated tome, Mr. Wagner reaches beyond the usual talents to expose the richness of the genre.

As he makes clear, documenting the nation's wildlife started well before John James Audubon's seminal work, "Birds of America" (1826-39). In the late 1500s, English explorer John White painted watercolors of the crabs, pelicans and turtles discovered during expeditions on the southeastern coast.

Another Englishman, Mark Catesby, made the next significant contribution in the 1730s with the first color-plate reference book on the species of the New World, titled "The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands."

During the 1800s, prints and drawings of native birds by Audubon were followed by more expressive likenesses of predatory beasts. Edward Kenneys, the first wildlife artist born in this country, sculpted lions, panthers and bears for public buildings and parks in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.

By the 20th century, wildlife art coincided with a growing interest in outdoor recreation and sports. One of the major talents of the era was German-born Carl Rungius, who based his dramatic, loosely brushed paintings of moose, elk and bighorn sheep on sightings during hunting trips to the West.

Much of this art was part of an effort to record the unfamiliar creatures of a continent still being settled. Today, the Animal Planet television channel and popular documentary films such as "March of the Penguins" have taken the place of paintings and sculptures in revealing the wonders of the natural world. Traditional wildlife art has lost much of its didactic purpose to become merely illustrative.

Not entirely so, however, as shown by the drawings, paintings, prints, photos and sculptures of rare species now on view at the Roosevelt-era Interior Museum. The exhibit, organized by the Wildling Art Museum in Los Olivos, Calif., puts a face on native animals and plants threatened by extinction.

The images in "Endangered Species: Flora & Fauna in Peril" depict the beauty of well-publicized creatures in peril, like the northern spotted owl and bald eagle, as well as more obscure plants and animals. They portray about 47 species listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, making an effective case for their preservation through colorful, detailed portrayals.