Paleoart: The art of drawing what doesn‘t exist anymore

Today, I want to highlight a quite underrated artistic genre: paleoart! At the intersection between art and science, this tradition seeks to bring long-dead species back to life through the pen. Let us dive in right away with a quick history of paleoart!

Technically, we may trace paleoart footsteps as far back as antiquity. Indeed, Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks and Chinese were all known for making drawings including monsters inspired by fossils. Yet, none of these drawings were made with an ounce of scientific accuracy or desire. In reality, the father of paleontology, Georges Cuvier, should also be recognized as the father of paleoart. Cuvier was known for sketching probable skeleton and muscle frameworks for fossils he studied. He put great care into making these probable cadavers as credible as he could. But those sketches were in no way complete beasts: Cuvier limited his wanderings to muscle structures and only to the body parts for which he had fossil evidence. We would have to wait a few years for the next step. In 1830, French paleontologist Henry De la Beche made two illustrations imagining a world where fossils he had previously found could have lived. The resulting scene, called "Durior Antiquior" is seen as the first reconstruction of an ancient ecosystem. Many enthusiast paleontologists would follow in De la Beche‘s footsteps, foremost among them would be Gideon Mantell. Until the end of the 19th century, Gideon Mantell would be the most prolific paleoartist by a long shot. Gideon was particularly famous for his artistic depictions with dynamic poses. Yet, his work is still firmly based on fantasy and imagination. Yes, he sometimes consulted paleontologists but rarely followed their guidelines if it didn't suit his fancy. He was also known to change specimen sizes significantly (sometimes two or threefold). A bit later, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins better fit what would be recognized as a paleoartist: deeply concerned with scientific accuracy yet very much an artist and not a paleontologist. His crowning achievement is probably the life-sized dinosaur sculptures he made for the British Crystal Palace in the 1850s. You can still find some of his sculptures in museums. A true pioneer, he did wonders with very little data. Keep in mind that the first complete big dinosaur skeleton would be excavated in Belgium almost two decades after he made the sculptures. Finishing up the highlights of the 19th century, John Martin also deserves a mention.

But one paleoartist stands out from the others: Charles Robert Knight.

Charles Robert Knight wasn't the first paleoartist, but the first to be universally recognized and praised for his scientific accuracy. For almost half a century, Knight's drawings would shape what we think of as dinosaurs. He is recognized as the main reason why we commonly see fossils in museums today. That's right: before Knight, those relics were more the domain of private collectors than anything else. Since his early childhood, Knight was captivated by the natural world. Sketching whatever and whenever he could, he was largely self-taught. Still, he followed some drawing instructions from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He used to spend hours studying animals in the Central Park Zoo. But it is a particular visit to the American Museum of Natural History that would change his life. On that particular visit, a scribbling Knight attracted the attention of one Dr. Jacob Worthman. Dr. Worthman would task Knight with painting a restoration of one particular fossil on display: an Elotherium (a sort of pig-like hoofed mammal). From now on, his models would be very much dead and dusty. Yet, his drawings made them flesh, breathing these creatures back to life. It is also in The American Museum of Natural History that Knight would meet Henry Fairfield Osborn - the paleontologist superstar of his time. With Osborn‘s guidance, Knight would draw almost exclusively dinosaurs from now on. Knight was praised for his scientific accuracy and attention to detail. Before drawing, he would study fossils for hours, discuss at length with experts and sculpt clay models of his targets. That‘s BEFORE putting anything on the page. Ok, from today's standards, Knight wasn't always that accurate which is very much excusable. First, paleontology wasn't as advanced as today. Then, just like with Mantell, fossils available to Knight were still incomplete - if not just a pile of mismatched bones. We also have to acknowledge that he still was an artist first and foremost. The extravagant horn he put on his Agathaumas 1897 drawing makes that very clear. Some of his best works (in my opinion) include Brontosaurus (1897), Hoplophoneus (also in 1897), Wooly Mammoths (1917) and, of course, his iconic Leaping Laelaps (1897 again). That last drawing is often considered a crucial element in changing the view of dinosaurs from sluggish creatures to active hunters. Indeed, during the 19th century, the dominant view saw dinosaurs similarly to cold-blooded sloths.

The 20th century would introduce paleoart to new mediums. The 1910 animated short movie Gertie the Dinosaur introduced the first dinosaurs on film. 1920 The Lost World (based on Doyle's book) is a landmark movie introducing them firmly to the silver screens of Hollywood. Remember that we already mentioned that movie in my previous post on the movie King Kong. Go look it up if you want to know how The Lost World and King Kong are related. In 1986, Sylvia Czerka organized the first exhibition dedicated to paleoart, sparking another wave of interest. That would quickly be followed by the important transition from the pencil to the computer. That would hit the mainstream with the movie Jurassic Park (still impressive to this day).

I know I went pretty fast today. Sorry, I don‘t have more time this week this go into further details because there is still so much more I could tell you. Maybe I went a bit overboard with my post on the Roman inflation problem (go look that post up if you still didn‘t).

In any case, thank you for your time and see you next time.

References

Paleoimagery : the evolution of dinosaurs in art [https://archive.org/details/paleoimageryevol0000debu/mode/2up](https://archive.org/details/paleoimageryevol0000debu/mode/2up)
Dinosaurs, mammoths, and cavemen : the art of Charles R. Knight [https://archive.org/details/dinosaursmammoth0000czer](https://archive.org/details/dinosaursmammoth0000czer)
The Scientific American book of dinosaurs [https://archive.org/details/scientificameric0000unse_z5s3/page/n7/mode/2up](https://archive.org/details/scientificameric0000unse_z5s3/page/n7/mode/2up)