The Vision of Charles Knight

The dramatic, large scale paintings in Chicago's Field Museum have always intrigued me. So many of the pieces looked like they are created by the same artist, but they range from landscapes to mammals to dinosaurs and some are absolutely massive in size. I finally started doing my research (including locating the wall-mounted identification plates near each piece) and found that my suspicions were correct - several of the pieces at the field were created by an artists named Charles R. Knight. Knight was an  American natural life artist who used his passion for nature and biology, a sharp eye for detail and a stellar imagination to create drawings and paintings of prehistoric creatures.

Knight's Elotherium at AMNH

Born in 1874 in Brooklyn, Knight could be found recording images from nature in his journal at an early age. Although legally blind (due to a severe astigmatism and a boyhood eye injury), Knight saw with the help of specialty eye-glasses, but often worked only inches from his canvas. As a young man in New York, he attended art school, and in the 1890's was commissioned to complete a restoration of the extinct pig Elotherium from a set of fossil bones for the American Museum of Natural History (right).  The folks at AMNH were impressed and soon Knight was creating depictions of extinct beasts (including human ancestors) for museums around the country.

It was in 1926 when Knight was asked to paint the 28 mural series that graces the walls of my beloved Field museum chronicling the history of life on Earth. Although the artist of many landscapes and prehistoric mammals, many of his pieces are famed for depicting Dinosaurs as active and fast-moving animals - many years ahead of this method of thinking among paleontologists. Knight's depictions were often based on basic biology, fossils and a lot of imagination, so some of his beasts turned out not to be entirely historically accurate. The accuracy of his 1897 depiction of Brontosauruses (Brontosauri?) was later debunked when Brontosaurus was found to have been land dwelling (Knight depicted the animals in water) and also not tail dragging. Considering the first complete dinosaur skeleton in the United States (Hadrosaurus Foulkii) had only been discovered in 1858, most of Knight's depictions were far ahead of his time.

One of those helpful informational plaques at 

Field.

The world lost Knight in 1953, but his legacy continues to grow. Earlier this year, Scientific American published a piece called Time Traveler: The Art of Charles Knight in advance of Richard Milner's new book, "Charles R. Knight: The Artist Who Saw Through Time" which was released by Abrams in March. Quickly following the article SA posted a slide show of Knights work (here).

Want to learn more? On the Field's multimedia site you can find a collection of all of their Knight pieces. You can also find a compilation of his work for the American Museum of Natural history here. Smithsonian's Dinosaur Tracker Blog has a great piece here about the more personal side of Knight's career and creativity by the excellent Brian Switek.

Although old-school paintings of dinosaurs might not seem as impressive as the CGI we have today, we have to remember that Knight was working in the later half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. During this time, understanding of dinosaurs was limited, fossil hunting was still a bit like the wild west, and the true study of dinosaur behavior and habitat had barely begun. Knight's work was akin to a Ray Bradbury novel - exploring a far-flung locale, describing worlds in which no man had ever walked. The world of the dinosaurs was as foreign as the Martian landscape and the vision of Charles Knight helped bring this unbelievable world to life, and continues to do so for museum-goers today.

Source: http://www.charlesrknight.com/ 

Waxing Dinosauric

December 18, 1962 was an important day. This mid-December day in the early 1960's is of unknown significance to many collectors - its the day the Mold -A-Rama was patented. 

Depending on where you are from, you may have never hear of Mold-A-Rama. Or, perhaps, you have walked by these magic-makers on family vacations or in your own home town and never investigated.

The Mold-A-Rama produced the coolest (and most affordable) souvenir that a museum, zoo or theme park had to offer. For a dollar or two, a child could watch with their little unbelieving eyes as the matching bookend molds, shaped like the two halves of their favorite animal, came together to be filled with hot wax. In moments, the two sides would separate, revealing the brightly colored sculpture.

 It was truly magical. Although as a child I had 15 or 20 of this excellent wax critters, I am not the type of collector that dominates web searches today. There were dolphins and bears, a Space Shuttle, a bust of Abe Lincoln, and more. My favorites, of course, were always the dinosaur figures. Although none of my originals have survived into my adulthood (or, did they, Mom?) I am lucky enough that Chicago still plays host to more than one active Mold-A-Rama machine. A couple weeks ago I spent some time at the Field Museum of Natural History and purchased two of the dinosaurs. They are still only $2 each. I tool home an Apatosaurus and a Triceratops (I also saw a T-Rex, but not the Stegosaurus that is rumored to also exist at the Field). No offense to the Tri for only posting the Apatosaurus, but this green guy reminded me so much of my childhood, I couldn't get over him.

There are several different dinosaur Mold-A-Ramas, and e-bay offers a selection of these figures dating back to the 1964 World's Fair in New York. I will not say that I am not looking into making some vintage Mold-A-Rama purchases. What awesome collectors pieces! Of course, dinosaurs have been toys for ages but wax dinosaurs, complete with the name of the dino and the location of purchase, are a really awesome collectors item that can't be passed up.

In addition to being able to purchase wax dinosaurs from 60 years ago online, I have seen a Mold-A-Rama machine, completely restored, for purchase for $14900. I think its worth saving for.

*Note for Chicagoans and visitors to the Chi: The Brookfield Zoo still has 9 Mold-A-Rama machines (the first one was installed in 1966). The Museum of Science and Industry has 4, the Lincoln Park Zoo has 2, the Field Museum has 4.

The Lost World: a Palimpsest

Jurassic Park: The Lost World had huge shoes to fill. It was the sequel to the then highest grossing film of all time. That the first movie left the ending of the original film with so many questions (What happened to the dinosaurs that remained on the island? Did word ever leak about this dangerous project? Will Dr. Malcolm call me at home to discuss Chaos Theory more in depth??)  seems to be based on the confidence that the movie would be a smash and that a sequel would be, too.

In this sequel, Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) once again brings to light what science could gain if a real Jurassic Park were ever to be created. She revives some of that original awe from the original film – the dream that bringing dinosaurs to life again would solve all of our burning questions about how they lived, behaved and formed relationships. But, altogether, its a different film.

The darker Jurassic Park sequel, with the equivalent almost-undetectable character development as its predecessor, has something the original does not:  Awareness. The Lost World contains a humble acknowledgement of its past; as much as it boasts its uniqueness, it understands its roots. Even the title of JP2* takes us tripping into its origin story, Sir Arthur Conan Dole’s The Lost World, one of the earliest modern tales in this genre: Dinosaurs in a Remote Land Sought Out by Men With Various Motives for Adventuring There. (As a loyal reader of Picture The Dinosaur, you have already heard of The Lost World!)

JP2 also recognizes its crossover into the Monster Movie genre, even beyond the Act III similarities to the Brontosaurus loose in London of the 1925 film The Lost World. What else is brought to mind when we think about a gigantic terror from a far off island captured and brought to a big city for display and entertainment that escapes and destroys countless innocent citizens? This frequently reused scene from King Kong (any of them) can be called replication or thieving of Crichton, Koepp, and Spielberg – but it can also be considered homage, and perhaps even a deeper commentary on Ian Malcolm’s wise and memorable words from Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World: “You aren’t making the same mistakes as last time, you are making all new ones.”

For more reading on the film:

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/the-lost-world-jurassic-park-19970523

http://silentmoviemonsters.tripod.com/TheLostWorld/LWJP.html

 *This is only a semi-intentional reference to Pope John Paul II

The Man who Almost Brought Dinosaurs to Central Park

The middle of the 19th century was a truly eruptive time for science. The pieces had been collecting for years, and finally some dedicated and educated scientists were ready to start assembling them. Literally, in the case of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, a sculptor from England who worked with other inquisitive minds of his time to bring the first life-sized replicas of dinosaurs the world had ever seen.

Wikimedia Commons

Working with great naturalist Richard Owen, Hawkins sculpted a set of dinosaurs for London's Crystal Palace park in 1852. The 33 concrete sculptures drew some serious media attention and sprung Hawkins into the spotlight.

In 1868 Hawkins traveled to America and was presented with an exciting opportunity. He was asked to design and mount the skeleton of a Hadrosaurus in New Jersey which had been the first dinosaur skeleton unearthed in the United States when a local man had uncovered it on his property 30 years before. Hawkins took the offer and Hadrosaurus became the first mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world.

If the individual bones and teeth of these beasts weren't exciting enough, the full mount which towered above visitors would have been quite a sight. It was around this time that much of the world was getting swept up in a Dinomania and, consequently, Hawkins received another exciting offer: New York's Central Park, not to be outdone by the Crystal Palace Park in south London, needed its own set of dinosaur sculptures.

 He set up a studio and began working, but local corrupt politics got in the way. It is said that "Boss" Tweed had the models Hawkins had been working on destroyed and buried in the South Side of the park. I'm guessing they are still there today. ALthough extremely saddened by the events in New York, Hawkin's continued his work in other ways including creating a series of paintings in Princeton, New Jersey, at what is now Princeton University.

A couple of years ago, I gave Princeton's archives department a call and found that they still have much of his work in their collection. I think a road trip is in order.

Learn more about BWH here, here, or here.

Chip Kidd's Creation

Just the mention of "Jurassic Park" conjures the excitement and fear of a life or death chase, or maybe the awe and wonder of that moment when long-necked dinosaurs stroll into our view for the first time - but long before we opened the book or stepped into the theatre, we were enthralled. Our excitement can be attributed to to graphic designer Chip Kidd, the creator of the book jacket and eventual promotional materials for the films. In a photo essay from Time Magazine, Kidd explains how the famous image came to be:

"When trying to recreate one of these creatures, all anyone has to go on is bones, right? So that was the starting point...Not only was the drawing integrated into the movie poster, it became the logo in the film for the park itself...Ultimately, I think it's safe to say that the Jurassic Park T-Rex became one of the most recognizable logos of the 1990s...[For the sequel], the solution was to take the original art and use it in a different way. There was no need to redraw anything." -Chip Kidd

Check out the photo essay in Time Magazine here.

The terrifying T-Rex, a terrorizing skeleton caught somehow in motion, made its way from the book cover to the film promotion, and even into the film. Kidd's graphic became the symbol of the adventure park itself. You can see it looming on the park's entrance gates, the helmets and uniforms of the park employees and the doors of the park's Jeeps. Kidd is correct in saying that the logo became one of the most recognizable of the 1990's - it also became one of the most parodied. A few examples from a quick internet search include "Geriatric Park," "Holocene Park" and Weird Al Yankovic's "Alapalooza".

So, if imitation is the best compliment, Chip Kidd should be smiling.