By Jim Stanford on July 14, 2008
Edward Rothstein of The New York Times writes a thoughtful essay about his visit to the National Museum of Wildlife Art.
Rothstein probes the meaning behind pastoral depictions of wilderness:
There is some fantasy in this, a simplification that can lead the way
into kitsch. But if taxidermy, hunting and painting are modes of capture, they are also modes of tribute. The moose heads mounted on walls or sold for thousands of dollars in souvenir shops in Jackson are affirmations of the hunter’s power and prowess. But like many paintings at this museum they are also monuments to a particular kind of encounter with the wild, in the wild. Environmentalism and hunting and painting become strange bedfellows.
Rothstein more vividly experiences the wild from the trails of Grand Teton park.
Posted under Art
