Animals …all sorts!
Animals with feathers and animals with tails, Animals with fur and animals with scales, Animals with horns and animals with wings Animals that bark and animals that sing, Captured on canvas or cast in stone… are all sorts of animals artists have known!
• Pictures of animals have been used in art to decorate caves since prehistoric times. Look at early cave drawings in the Lascaux caves and Chauvet Cave in France and the Cave of Altamira in Spain.
• In earlier times animals often took second place to humans in art as part of the scenery or the setting for a narrative or they were depicted as symbols of religion, power, wealth or national pride. Have a look at the following examples of how animals have been portrayed ;
~ Monarch of the Glen, Edwin Landseer, 1851
~ Pablo Picasso’s paintings and sculptures of bulls including Bull’s Head, 1943
~ Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, 1800-1, Jacques-Louis David
~ Elizabeth I: The Ermine Portrait, 1585, by Nicholas Hilliard.
• They were also depicted in paintings as farm and working animals. See the work of English artist John Constable or Ploughing in the Nivernais, 1849 by Rosa Bonheur and Shearing the Rams, 1890 by Australian artist Tom Roberts.
• With the 18th century interest in natural history animals became the subject matter in their own right and were painted with a close study of their anatomy. Look at the work of English painter George Stubbs.
• More recent artists have painted animals with sentimentality and affection showing their characteristics and personality. Look at the work of the following artists;
~ David Hockney, Dog Painting, 1995, Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, 1970-71
~ Franz Marc, Deer in the Woods II, 1912, Siberian Alsations, 1909
~ Pablo Picasso, Girl holding a Dove, 1901 and the bronze sculpture She
~ Jeff Koons, Puppy, January – March 1992
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