UN DERSTAN DI NG ANIMAL S UN DERSTAN DI NG OUR SELVE S Animals play important roles in our lives. They are cherished companions, and they are hunted for sport. They are sources of food and clothing, and they are revered as symbols of power. They are used in combat, experimented on, and kept as specimens. The exhibition Understanding Animals/Understanding Ourselves explores the ways in which artists have represented the roles of animals in society, with selections of artwork from the 1500s to the present. The premise of the exhibition is that humans represent animals in ways that both reflect and shape our understanding of them and of ourselves. Representations communicate knowledge, but also serve other roles. Representations of animals may serve as metaphors or symbols. Animals can be portrayed as taking on human characteristics, a device known as anthropomorphism. Often portrayed as cute and whimsical, anthropomorphized animals can bring joy. However, they can also address pain and conflict. Further, representations of animals may raise questions surrounding not only the human treatment of animals, but also how humans treat one another. Understanding Animals/Understanding Ourselves highlights the wealth of the PennWest University community and its resources. The exhibition features work from the Bruce Gallery’s Permanent Collection along with works lent by alumni, professors, and regional artists. The exhibition was curated in collaboration and conversation with students in my upper-level art history classes during the spring and summer of 2024. Lastly, the complexity of the theme and the variety of the works on view invite interdisciplinary engagement and serve as a resource for the university community. Cindy Persinger, curator 16th to 19th centuries The period from 1500 to 1899 was characterized by a growing embrace of rationalism and scientific thinking. Enlightenment ideas of the 18th century challenged tradition while also instituting a social structure that benefited some and undermined others. While the earliest work in this section is a religious woodcut from 1507, later works include educational illustrations, political cartoons, and other modern works. Anthropomorphized animals play leading roles in fables—stories that provide moral guidance for both adults and children. An increasing interest in the exploration of the physical world is evident in detailed renderings of animals in natural history illustrations. European and American expansion during this period coincided with increasing urbanization and industrialization. As a result, many (animals and humans) experienced hardships. The meat of animals—including the now extinct passenger pigeon—was used to feed growing urban populations. Not all animals or humans were treated with respect and care. Visual representations of animals or humans could serve to both uplift and denigrate, as well as to justify European colonialism. The dove descends upon Mary and Christ’s Apostles in this portrayal of the Christian event known as Pentecost. Pentecost celebrates this event in the Passion of Christ, those events that immediately preceded his death. Here, the dove functions as a sacred symbol of the Holy Spirit. Hans Schäufelein the Elder was a German painter and designer of woodcuts who worked in a style like that of Albrecht Dürer. Hans Schäufelein the Elder German, ca. 1482-1539 or 1540 The Pentecost from The Passion of Christ 1507 Woodcut 9.5 x 6.5 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Dirck Stoop Dutch, ca. 1618-ca. 1676 The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice from Aesop’s Fables (after a drawing by Francis Cleyn, 1651) 1668 Etching 10 x 8.125 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Thus Petty Princes strive with mortall Hate, Till both are swallow’d by a Neighbouring State: Thus Factions with a Civill War imbru’d By some unseen Aspirer are Subdu’d. –John Ogilby, The Fables of Æsop This etching illustrates a battle between frogs and mice, as a kite–a type of hawk–swoops down from above. This illustration is one from a series of twenty-four etchings made by the Dutch artist Dirck Stoop for Scottish translator and publisher John Ogilby’s publication of Aesop’s Fables, intended for an adult audience. Ogilby completed the first edition during a period of Civil War (1639-1653) fought between the kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, his translation refers to this contemporary conflict. Stoop’s image illustrates the third edition and is a copy after Francis Cleyn’s drawing for the first edition.1 The superior safety of an obscure and humble station, is a balance for the honours of high and envied life. –Thomas Bewick, Select Fables In fables like “The Two Lizards,” anthropomorphized animals are used as characters to illustrate human moral flaws from which a lesson is learned. In this fable written for children, one lizard envies the higher station embodied by the stag. The illustration shows the hunter on horseback while his dogs attack the stag, and the two lizards watch on. Ultimately, the stag “was torn in pieces by the dogs in sight of our two lizards.”2 Thomas Bewick British, 1753-1828 The Two Lizards from Select Fables 1820 Wood Engraving 2.5 x 3.25 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Thomas Bewick British, 1753-1828 The African Wild Boar, or Wood Swine from A General History of Quadrupeds 1790 Wood Engraving 2.5 x 3.75 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection The African Wild Boar, or Wood Swine is an illustration in Thomas Bewick’s A General History of Quadrupeds, a natural history book with wood engravings accompanied by short descriptions. Bewick’s technique of wood engraving allowed for illustrations and text to be printed on the same page. The description of the animal begins “Lives in a wild, uncultivated state, in the hottest parts of Africa. It is a very vicious animal, and quick in all its motions.”3 Published at the end of the 18th century, the book coincided with a growing European colonialism as well as the developing field of natural history. In this print by French Realist Honoré Daumier, the animal is present in the meat in an urban butcher shop. This is one in a series of twelve lithographic prints published between 1857 and 1858 in Le Charivari, a daily satirical periodical in Paris. Daumier was interested in social and health concerns regarding Parisian butchers and meat. Growing 19th century cities like Paris struggled to feed the urban population safely and adequately. The series of prints was accompanied by an editorial text that condemned butchers and their trade.4 Honoré Daumier French, 1808-1879 M’Sieu le Boucher (Mister Butcher), published in Le Charivari January 16, 1858 1858 Lithograph 8.5 x 9.75 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection John James Audubon American, 1785-1851 Passenger Pigeon from The Birds of America 1829 Hand-colored engraving and aquatint 26.5 x 39.5 in. Baron-Forness Library Collection This print is one of 435 from John James Audubon’s series, The Birds of America. Audubon used dead specimens he killed himself for his drawings. Now extinct, the Passenger Pigeon population was still so high in the mid-19th century, that Audubon noted in the accompanying text that only deforestation, not hunting, would reduce the number of pigeons.5 The birds were overhunted as well as shipped by the barrelful to cities like New York to feed the urban poor.6 Though the name Audubon has been associated with the National Audubon Society since its inception in 1905, Audubon—the man—has increasingly come under scrutiny. The National Audubon Society recognizes that “It’s fair to describe John James Audubon as a genius, a pioneer, a fabulist, and a man whose actions reflected a dominant white view of the pursuit of scientific knowledge. His contributions to ornithology, art, and culture are enormous, but he was a complex and troubling character who did despicable things even by the standards of his day.”7 Like the Passenger Pigeon print, the Carolina Parrot–now known as the Carolina Parakeet–is one of the 435 life-size prints produced by John James Audubon for his series, The Birds of America.8 The only parrot species native to the Eastern United States, the last wild specimen was killed in 1904. Portrayed here as very much alive, various factors contributed to the bird’s extinction. Notably, the bird’s brightly colored feathers were used to decorate women’s hats. “Incas,” the last captive Carolina Parakeet, died in 1918, in the same cage in the Cincinnati Zoo in which “Martha,” the last known Passenger Pigeon, died in 1914.9 John James Audubon American, 1785-1851 Carolina Parrot from The Birds of America 1829 Hand-colored engraving and aquatint 26.5 x 39.5 in. Baron-Forness Library Collection Felix Octavius Carr Darley American, 1822-1888 Sherman’s March to the Sea 1883 Lithograph 27.125 x 41.5 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection This lithograph by Felix Octavius Carr Darley depicts the Union Army’s fatal blow to the Confederacy in the American Civil War. Destruction of railways and farms was intended to break the Confederacy’s morale. Animal and human interactions in this image convey a disparity between the Union soldiers and the enslaved. While General Sherman sits atop his white steed, those fleeing enslavement are beside a cow, suggesting that they had been treated similarly.10 Toyohara Chikanobu Japanese, 1838-1912 Asakusa Bansho from Eight Views of Tokyo Today 1888 Woodblock print, plate #5 13 x 8.5 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection This Japanese uikyo’e print by Toyohara Chikanobu portrays two young women accompanied by a sleeping black and white cat with a red collar curled up on a cushion. Beautiful women in uikyo’e prints from the Edo (1603-1868) and Meiji (1868-1912) periods are often accompanied by black and white cats with red collars. Cats have a rich history in Japanese culture. Viewed as both domestic and feral, they are commonly anthropomorphized.11 French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin’s print is a portrait of the French Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé. He is portrayed with a raven immediately behind his head. Mallarmé translated American Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Raven (1842) into French in 1875. In Gauguin’s print, he has closely juxtaposed the man and the bird suggesting the linking of translator with poem, Mallarmé with The Raven. Paul Gauguin French, 1848-1903 Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé 1891 Etching The bird in the print also connects Gauguin with French Impressionist Edouard Manet, who had illustrated Mallarmé’s translation. Gauguin’s portrayal of the raven looks similar to Manet’s, thereby allowing Gauguin to align himself with an artist whose reputation as a crucial figure in Modernism was already well established.12 8 x 6.5 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection 20th century Significant scientific and cultural shifts mark the 20th century. Technological developments contributed to changes in various aspects of life around the world, including warfare, communication, and travel. The works in this section provide an opportunity to consider how our understanding of animals shifted as well. For example, compare the photograph of a military parade from the early 20th century with the print of a horse and its trailer created in 1980. A lot had clearly changed in the United States in those 80 years. The 20th century works included here illustrate a shift in the role that animals played in art in society. In the previous section, the artworks were created primarily for religious and educational purposes. Here, many of the prints were produced to be sold as artworks. This shift serves as evidence of the growth of the art market in the 20th century and demonstrates the desirability of the animal as subject matter. The Modern (1860s - 1960s) prints served as illustrations for texts, ranging from a reinterpretation of absurdist 19th century theater to the classical texts of Zen Buddhism. The contemporary (1970s - present) prints in this section suggest the richness of cultural references with which the artists engage. Animals take center stage in this political cartoon about conquest. The British are represented by the bulldog, a stand-in for John Bull who is a national personification of Great Britain. The British are tied up with the Boer War in South Africa, unable to partake in the meal. They must suppress their appetite while other world powers, including Uncle Sam, stab their forks into slabs of meat labeled with the names of contested areas around the globe.16 Angelo Jank German, 1868-1940 Appetit ist kein Genuss, wenn man ihn verkneifen muss (Hunger is not pleasurable, if you have to suppress it) 1901 Print; published in Jugend (Youth), 1901, No. 49, back cover 10.5 x 7.75 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Peruvian Mola 20th century Textile 19 x 13 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection This colorful textile panel is known as a mola.13 It depicts a winged unicorn on top of which another animal sits. Mola are crafted and worn by Guna women. The Guna are an indigenous people in Panama. These panels of layered vibrant fabric pieces are created using the reverse appliqué technique. Mothers and grandmothers pass down the techniques to the younger generations. The women are also the storytellers, often expressing a connection between human beings and animals through their work.14 This photograph appears to be of a US military parade replete with a band, cavalry, and a small crowd of civilians. The long exposures required to capture the photographic image at the time resulted in the blurred images of moving animals and people seen here. While the US cavalry played a crucial role in the American Civil War, the horse’s role in battle would virtually disappear over the course of the 20th century. In this photograph, some of the cavalry wield swords, evidence of the ceremonial nature of the event.15 American Photograph of a Military Parade Early 20th century Albumen Print 11.75 x 9 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection A prehistoric-looking flying fish portrayed with thick, heavy black lines dominates this seemingly absurd scene by French Modernist Georges Rouault. The Flying Fish illustrates a re-imaging of the French Symbolist play, Ubu Roi ou les Polonais of 1888.17 The satirical main character King Ubu returns in the French art dealer Ambroise Vollard’s Reincarnations of Father Ubu. The play is now seen as a precursor to various modernist movements of the 1920s and 30s, including Dada, Surrealism, and Futurism. Georges Rouault French, 1871-1958 Le Poisson Volant (The Flying Fish) from Ambroise Vollard’s Réincarnations du Père Ubu (Reincarnations of Father Ubu) 1929 Aquatint 8.5 x 12.25 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Map of Arnhem Land showing Umbakumba (Groote Eylandt), Yirrkala, Oenpelli (Gunbalanya) and Milingimbi Island.19 Australian Mangrove Crab 1901 Hand-printed photo-serigraph reproduction 5.5 x 6.25 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection This image of a Mangrove crab is a reproduction of a bark painting done by a member of the Australian aboriginal people of Groote Eylandt, an island off the coast of the Northern Territory. The original was one of over 400 aboriginal bark paintings collected during an Australian-American expedition to Arnhem Land in 1948 intended to preserve what was believed at the time to be a vanishing culture.18 Done in a manner often referred to as x-ray style, the creature’s insides are visible. Animals are typical subject matter of Arnhem Land bark paintings. They can be both sacred and secular. Marc Chagall Belarusian, 1887-1985 The Golden Calf from the Bible Series 1950 Etching 11.5 x 9 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection This etching by the Jewish Belarusian artist Marc Chagall portrays the story of the Golden Calf from the Old Testament Book of Exodus. The golden calf was created by Aaron for the Israelites as a false god to worship after Moses had been away for too long. In this work, the golden calf stands raised up at the center of the composition being worshiped by the Israelites. The work is from Chagall’s Bible Series, a project he began in 1931 and completed in 1958 that ultimately comprised two volumes and 105 etchings.20 The winged bulls of this work’s title are conveyed abstractly, with overlapping rectangles of white and grey against a blue ground. This work is one of eight color lithographs by French Modernist Georges Braque illustrating a limited-edition book concerning classic texts about Zen Buddhism. The title, Le Tir à l’arc (Archery), refers to Eugen Herrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery (1948), which was credited with introducing Zen Buddhism to a Western audience.21 In Braque’s print, the four, winged bulls likely relate to traditional Buddhist imagery in which the process of taming the bull is a simile for the meditative process of achieving enlightenment. Georges Braque French, 1882-1963 Taureaux ailés (Winged Bulls) from Le Tir a l’arc (Archery) Portfolio 1960 Lithograph 9.5 x 7 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Salvador Dali Spanish, 1904-1989 El Cid from the Five Spanish Immortals 1966 Etching 6.75 x 5 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Salvador Dali’s series, the Five Spanish Immortals, celebrates five real and imagined figures from Spanish cultural history. This etching portrays El Cid, the Spanish hero immortalized by the medieval Spanish epic poem of the same title. Here, El Cid sits atop his horse clad in a suit of armor. While El Cid’s face is hidden by his knight’s visor, the horse’s face is visible as it looks outward. This lithograph by French artist Françoise Gilot is a portrait of her daughter Aurélia hugging an owl to her chest. Both owl and girl face outward. Is the owl her pet? Françoise Gilot French, 1921-2023 Gilot recounted in her memoir Life with Picasso (1964) that she and her longtime partner, Pablo Picasso, kept a rescued owl in their home in 1946.22 Gilot describes it as ill-mannered. She and Picasso both created artworks featuring owls 1966 Aurélia and the Owl Lithograph 30 x 22 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Sigmund Abeles American, b. 1934 Experiment #1 1968 Etching 22 x 28 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection In Sigmund Abeles’ etching, an uncertain relationship exists between the standing woman, seated man, and suspended lamb. The lack of clarity regarding the title, Experiment #1, as well as the setting add a further sense of unease. What type of experiment is occurring? What is happening between the three figures? The lack of clarity combined with unsettling visual details may leave the viewer with more questions than answers.23 This woodblock print of a scorpion embodies the animal’s transformative power in Tibetan Buddhism. The Great Scorpion Wheel of Padmasambhava includes protective incantations believed to have been revealed to the great Tibetan Buddhist guru, Padmasambhava (c. 8th – 9th c.). The tantric Buddhist tradition that spread to the west via Tibet is known as Tibetan Buddhism.24 Tibetan Great Scorpion Wheel of Padmasambhava early 1970s Woodblock 18.25 x 10.75 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Mel Ramos American, 1935-2018 Manet’s Olympia 1974 Collotype 20 x 26.5 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Mel Ramos’ print, Manet’s Olympia, is a provocative contemporary re-interpretation of French Impressionist Édouard Manet’s painting, Olympia. Manet’s work is itself a provocative 19th century re-interpretation of a Renaissance painting, Titian’s Venus of Urbino. In each of these paintings, a different animal is portrayed at the foot of the semi-reclining nude. In each instance, a quality associated with the animal—fidelity, promiscuity, etc.—is related to aspects associated with a figure’s gender, race, and/or class.25 Banana Beau is both the title of this print and the name of the horse it portrays. Banana Beau stands at the rear of a horse trailer. A man stands on the other side. This work is typical of American Photorealist Richard McLean, who is known for his hyper-realistic portrayals of race and show horses.27 Richard McLean American, 1934-2014 Banana Beau 1980 Lithograph 27 x 29.5 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection John Baeder American, b. 1938 Chicken Chops 1980 Screenprint 22 x 30 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection In this print, animals are represented by the text on the outside of a seemingly neglected roadside diner. The American Photorealist John Baeder is known for nostalgic portrayals of roadside diners. While both “chicken” and “fish” can refer to both a living creature and an animal to be consumed, “chops” and “steaks” refer solely to portions of animals disassembled for consumption.26 Fran Bull American, b. 1938 Horses of the Camargue 1980 Screenprint 22 x 30 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Camargue horses are a breed of small grey horse native to the Camargue region in southern France. For centuries, these horses have lived wild in the wetlands. In Horses of Camargue, the horses’ semi-feral, semi-domesticated status is evident. They stand outside, and three of the five drink from an outdoor water source. But a fence is visible in the background, and they wear reins. The American artist Fran Bull is known for her hyper-realistic portrayals of animals.28 Ambiguity prevails in contemporary artist Wayne Kimball’s Portrayal of Its Maker. Who does this work portray? The artist? A greater power? What role do animals play? The taxidermy lion rug on the floor seems to imply a relationship between animals and humans in which the human views the hunt as a demonstration of power. But is this a straightforward portrayal? And again, portrayal of whom? The small and intimate format of this lithographic print is common in Kimball’s work.29 Wayne Kimball American, b. 1943 Portrayal of Its Maker 1980 Lithograph 15 x 11.125 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Peggy Jane Garbutt Murray American, b. 1947 The Australians II 1982 Serigraph 21 x 28 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection In Peggy Jane Garbutt Murray’s serigraph, two anthropomorphized animals—a kangaroo and an Australian cattle dog—stand upright with a farm behind them. A flock of galah birds, an Australian species of cockatoo, flies above a field that extends back to a barn on the horizon. The scene is reminiscent of American Regionalist Grant Wood’s famous painting American Gothic (1930) in which a man and his daughter stand in front of their Iowa farm. Murray makes playful substitutions. Animals stand in for humans and an Australian farm for an American farm.30 Artist William B. Schade is known for whimsical animal imagery rich in cultural references. In Mae West Winter Chicken, the chicken is anthropomorphized by the references to the actress Mae West that surround it. Schade intentionally leaves names misspelled, here May West for Mae West. The lips underscored by “WEST IS BEST” refers to the Surrealist Salvador Dali’s Mae West Lips Sofa (1937). Given that Mae West was a supporter of gay rights, the chicken may refer to the term “chicken” in gay slang for a young man.31 William B. Schade American, 1943-2008 Mae West Winter Chicken 1999 Drypoint 8 x 14.75 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection 21st century Thus far, the 21st century is characterized by the proliferation of new digital technologies—smart phones, game consoles, social media, the internet. At least in part, these technologies shape how we know and experience the world. Images are numerous, but they do not always provide truthful representations of the world around us. For example, with his print, Up Dung Creek (2006), Tom Huck questions the types of creatures that people claim to see in the Mississippi River. Other artists reconsider long-held “truths,” including those that support the inequitable treatment of others, both animal and human. In Cash Cow, John Hitchcock (Kiowa/Comanche) draws attention to the effects that United States government policies have had on both indigenous populations and cows. During this period, humans are increasingly questioning our relationships with others—animals and humans. In this section, some artists explore the nature of our relationships with animals. Paula Garrick Klein’s cow portrait portrays an animal in a way typically reserved for humans. Rachel Maly’s Fauna Obscurus presents an opportunity to explore ethical dimensions of human-animal interactions. Other artists call attention to the nature of representation. In David Cowles and Jeremy Galante’s animated short, Sniffles, people interact with a comic strip dog as if he were “real.” The work of contemporary artists may prompt us to consider what we might learn from representations of animals about our relationships with others. Inspired by an exhibition of 19th century toys based on the biblical story of Noah’s Ark, artist James Parlin created a series of six animal pairs intended as “Noah’s Ark toys for our times.” Unlike the 19th-century toys that focus on the pairing of animals for the sole purpose of more baby animals, Parlin’s toy-like pairs depict emotional aspects of couple’s lives and sexual relationships. According to Parlin, “Sexuality in this relationship comes out in underlying assumptions about gender and power.” James Parlin American, b. 1954 Noah’s Ark/Birds 2000 Polychromed bronze and wood Approx. 19 x 34 x 26 in. Courtesy of the artist John Hitchcock American (Kiowa/Comanche) Cash Cow 2004 Screenprint, letterpress, and gold dust 15 x 20 in. Courtesy of the artist Contemporary artist John Hitchcock (Kiowa/Comanche) references the treatment of both cows and indigenous populations in his print, Cash Cow. The text “FROZEN GROUND FEAR” anthropomorphizes the cow portrayed beneath it by replacing the expected word “BEEF” with an emotion: “FEAR.” This work’s combination of text and images addresses the impacts that replacing native foodways with food assistance programs and native lands with reservations have had.32 This hand-drawn photolithograph features various anthropomorphized animal-like creatures riding bikes. Andiamo is Italian for “let’s go” or “hurry up,” the latter of which seems particularly appropriate, especially when the viewer notices the blue turtle at the back of the group in the upper right-hand corner. Jay Ryan is both a musician and a printmaker who frequently employs animals in his designs.33 Jay Ryan American, b. 1972 Andiamo 2005 Lithograph 15 x 20 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection This painting of a Steelhead from Elk Creek, a tributary of Lake Erie, portrays the fish in profile on a black ground. The artist, John Bavaro, describes artmaking as being like fishing. Bavaro states that the artist “uses his knowledge of lures, of fishes’ life-patterns, of water depths and temperatures to land a fish, but ultimately his final product is a complete mystery until it has been landed.” The fish in his painting thus serves as a metaphor for art. John Bavaro American Elk Creek Steelhead 2006 Oil on panel 12.5 x 27.75 in. Courtesy of the artist Tom Huck American, b. 1971 Up Dung Creek 2006 Linocut 12.25 x 24.25 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection Look carefully at the menagerie of creatures portrayed in this river scene. This chaotic scene was inspired by the many fish tales, or improbable stories, about fantastical sea creatures found along the Missouri coast of the Mississippi River. Tom Huck is one of a group of artists who call themselves “Outlaw Printmakers.” In reference to this print, Huck stated on Instagram that “Sometimes bad things happen with bad critters in the Mississippi.”34 Paula Garrick Klein American Patches 2007 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 in. Courtesy of the artist When contemporary artist Paula Garrick Klein first met Patches, she was a newborn calf living on the beef cattle farm close to the artist’s home in suburban Pittsburgh. Compelled to paint her new friend, the artist’s on-going series of cow portraits began. With time, the relationship between Klein and Patches grew, as did the cow who had generations of her own calves. The animal in this print is a bird that flies out of the mouth of the the Civil War widow of the title. A red line connects the raven to what the artist Diana Sudyka identified as an upside-down lily dripping blood. Sudyka also described the work as loosely based on listening to the band the Decembrists and watching too much of the Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary.35 While the bird serves as a symbol, no specific meaning can be attributed to it.36 Diana Sudyka American Civil War Widow 2007 Intaglio 11.75 x 8.75 in. Bruce Gallery Permanent Collection The Fauna Obscurus Archive catalogs the history of Fauna Obscurus and deconstructs the philosophy of animal experimentation through the presentation of a collection of objects: created, found, and appropriated, merging fiction and reality. Rachel Maly American Fauna Obscurus Archive 2023 Found and created books, modified vintage photographs, ceramic sculptures, animal bones, glass bottles with scents, appropriated print, found furniture, microscope Courtesy of the artist Rachel Maly American Fauna Obscurus – This Lens Through Which We See 2023 Cast bronze, glass magnifying lens, wood Animals in medical experiments are considered a lens through which to study human disease. This perspective obscures fauna, rendering them invisible as beings unto themselves. The rat’s black opaque lens obscures rather than illuminates, upending its intended role as a tool and emblem for scientific research. It becomes a fauna obscurus, an animal whose inner workings are hidden, allowing it to be recognized as a living being. This piece is a guide for how to view animals used in experimentation. What do you see through the lens? -Rachel Maly 10 x 10 x 50 in. Courtesy of the artists Sniffles is an animated short that follows the adventures of a comic strip dog, Sniffles, when he is forced to leave the newspaper for the real world to track down his missing nose. Although Sniffles is a representation of a dog and not real, he still garners the attention and sympathy of a group of people before—spoiler alert— being reunited with his nose.37 David Cowles (Director) American Jeremy Galante (Director) American Sniffles 2012 Film, 2:06 minutes Courtesy of the artists Notes 1 For a new edition of Ogilby’s publication, see John Ogilby and Aesop, The Fables of Æsop, ed. Donald Beecher (Toronto: Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies, 2021). 2 Thomas Bewick, Thomas Bewick’s Select Fables from Æsop and Others, (Urbana, IL: Project Gutenberg, 2019), accessed November 1, 2024. Thank you to Grace “Jae” Preston for her thoughtful consideration of this print in ARTH 3900 Art and Society at PennWest University, Spring 2024. 3 Thomas Bewick, A General History of Quadrupeds. The Figures Engraved on Wood, by Thomas Bewick (England: printed by E. Walker for T. Bewick and S. Hodgson, 1807), 132, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.aa0012988796&seq=7. 4 “Honoré Daumier, Le Boucher,” Christie’s, accessed November 1, 2024, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4092684. 5 “John J. Audubon’s Birds of America – Plate 62 Passenger Pigeon,” National Audubon Society, accessed November 1, 2024, https://www.audubon.org/birds-of-america/passenger-pigeon. 6 Dolly Jørgensen, “Grieving the Passenger Pigeon Back into Existence Again,” MIT Press Reader, accessed November 1, 2024, https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/grieving-the-passenger-pigeon-into-existence-again/. 7 Read more about what the National Audubon Society refers to as his “complicated history.” “John James Audubon: A Complicated History,” National Audubon Society, accessed November 1, 2024, https://www.audubon.org/content/john-james-audubon. 8 “John J. Audubon’s Birds of America – Plate 26 Carolina Parrot,” National Audubon Society, accessed November 1, 2024, https://www.audubon.org/birds-of-america/carolina-parrot. 9 “The Last Carolina Parakeet,” National Audubon Society, accessed November 1, 2024, https://johnjames.audubon.org/last-carolina-parakeet. 10 Thank you to Regan Borso and Ella Rabjohns for their thoughtful consideration of this print in ARTH 3600 American Art at PennWest University, Spring 2024. 11 Thank you to Mallory Tadacki for her thoughtful consideration of cats in ukiyo’e prints in ARTH 3900 Art and Society at PennWest University, Spring 2024. 12 Edgar Poe, Le Corbeau—The Raven—Poème Traduction française de Stéphane Mallarmé avec illustrations par Édouard Manet (Paris: Richard Lesclide, 1875), https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/LeCorbeau(Mallarm%C3%A9). 13 For more information on molas, see “Molas, Textile Designs of the Guna Indians of Panama,” The William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, accessed November 1, 2024, https://benton.uconn.edu/exhibitions/molas-textile-designs-of-the-kuna-indians-of-panama/. 14 Thank you to Erica Osborne for her research on this textile in ARTH 3600 American Art at PennWest University, Spring 2024. 15 Thank you to Bruce Gallery director Maria Ferguson for her help in researching this photograph. 16 Thank you to Evan Cook for his research into this print in ARTH 4900 After Modernism at PennWest University, Spring 2024. 17 Alfred Jarry’s absurdist play Ubu Roi ou les Polonais (1888) was performed only once in Paris in 1896. Alfred Jarry, Ubu Roi ou les Polonais (Urbana, IL: Project Gutenberg, 2005), accessed November 1, 2024. 18 The expedition collected around 600 bark paintings and sculptures that were later distributed to Australian state museums as well as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. See “Old Masters: Australia’s Great Bark Artists,” National Museum Australia, accessed November 1, 2024, https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/old-masters. 19 Map of Arnhem Land showing Umbakumba (Groote Eylandt), Yirrkala, Oenpelli (Gunbalanya) and Milingimbi Island From Sally K. May, “Colonial Collections of Portable Art and Intercultural Encounters in Aboriginal Australia” Before Farming 1, no. 8 (January 2003): 3, accessed November 1, 2024, https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=cc21baa010940dcd29feb3074fbcaec021b1f29c. Map reproduced in Kay is after Charles P. Mountford, Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land 1: art, myth and symbolism, (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press), xxii. 20 Thank you to Alina Gorbachyova for her research on Marc Chagall in ARTH 3900 Art and Society at PennWest University, Spring 2024. 21 The English translation of Herrigel’s original German publication (1948) appeared in 1953. See Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery, R.F.C. Hull, trans. (New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1953). 22 Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake, Life with Picasso (New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 1964). 23 Thank you to Evan Cook and Emily Johnson for the research they did on Sigmund Abeles in ARTH 4900 After Modernism at PennWest University, Spring and Summer 2024. 24 This print is discussed in Nik Douglas, Tibetan Tantric Charms and Amulets: 230 Examples Reproduced from Original Woodblocks, (Mineloa, NY: Dover Press, 1978), plate 132. 25 Thank you to students in ARTH 3600 American Art and ARTH 4900 After Modernism at PennWest University, Spring and Summer 2024, who researched Mel Ramos. These students include Korrye Clarke, Breonna Donald, Tyler Gedman, Jordan Griffin, Colby Jester, Corinne Seigh, and Corey Self. Footnotes 26 Thank you to the students in ARTH 3600 American Art and ARTH 4900 After Modernism at PennWest University, Spring and Summer 2024, who researched John Baeder. These students include Isabella Barrett, Sydney Cicchini, Henry Dobransky Gamble, Tyler Gedman and Samuel Vitori. 27 Thank you to those students who worked on Richard McLean in ARTH 3600 American Art and ARTH 4900 After Modernism at PennWest University, Spring and Summer 2024. These students include Sid Christensen, Anahy Corujo, Travis Duke, Madison Kuhns, Aniya Mike, Eve-Lyn Nicklas, Emilee Ramfos, and Kaley Simpson. 28 Thank you to Kelly Kollar for her research on the Camargue horses in ARTH 3900 Art and Society at PennWest University, Spring 2024. 29 Thank you to students in ARTH 3600 American Art and ARTH 4900 After Modernism for their research on Wayne Kimball’s print at PennWest University, Spring and Summer 2024. These students include Carson Conner, Trinity Lule, and Alexa Weaver. 30 Thank you to Jon Skocik for his research on Peggy Jane Garbutt Murray’s work in ARTH 4900 After Modernism at PennWest University, Spring 2024. Thank you also to those students in ARTH 4900 After Modernism Summer 2024 and ARTH 3600 American Art, Spring 2024 who worked on Murray’s print. These students include Sierra Allen, Roswell Butina, and Grace “Jae” Preston. 31 Thank you to Alex Frank and Courteney Venesky for their research on William B. Schade’s work in ARTH 4900 After Modernism at PennWest University, Spring and Summer 2024. 32 Thank you to those students who worked on John Hitchcock in ARTH 4900 After Modernism at PennWest University, Spring and Summer 2024. These students include Abby Greene, Noah Halsted, Ethan Moyer, Patience Makusi, Percy Khoury, and Dani Pizzoferrato. 33 Thank you to Sierra Allen and Aiden Gray for their research on John Hitchcock’s work in ARTH 3600 American Art at PennWest University, Spring 2024. 34 Tom Huck (@EvilPrints), “’Up Dung Creek’”, woodcut, 20” x 24,2006 “Sometimes bad things happen with bad critters in the Mississippi” –Tom Huck, Instagram photo, December 11, 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/C0tvfyBOsje/?igsh=N2thbDh4b25nbTU3. Thank you to Brenden Boros in ARTH 3600 American Art at PennWest University. Spring 2024, for his research on Tom Huck. 35 Diana Sudyka, “Busted Amp Showcases Gig-poster Artists,” June 23, 2008, WBEZ, Chicago, Illinois, radio, 7:00, accessed November 1, 2024, https://www.wbez.org/stories/busted-amp-showcases-gig-poster-artists/6869c21b-5b92-444e-8004-16c8ad5363cc. 36 Thank you to Jessie Beatty for her research on Diana Sudyka’s print in ARTH 3600 American Art at PennWest University, Spring 2024. 37 Thank you to Kay Sanker for researching Sniffles in ARTH 4900 After Modernism at PennWest University, Summer 2024. Acknowledgements Thank you to Lisa Austin, former Bruce Gallery director, for inviting me to curate a show on animals and to Maria Ferguson, the current Bruce Gallery director, for her support and expert guidance in bringing Understanding Animals/ Understanding Ourselves to fruition. Thank you to PennWest Graphic Design professors Greg Harrison and Spencer Norman for stepping in to design the catalog. Special thanks to my students! Every student in my upper-level courses at PennWest University during the spring and summer of 2024 researched topics and works related to the curation of this exhibition. Individual student contributions are mentioned in the notes. Cindy Persinger, November 2024