nfralick
Wed, 02/12/2025 - 17:24
Edited Text
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
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