Sunday, June 30, 2013

New chapter about diorama wizard James P. Wilson

Michael Anderson of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History has published the latest chapter in his online book about the life and work of diorama backdrop artist James Perry Wilson.

The new chapter covers Wilson's work for the North American mammal corridor groups in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, 1945-1954. 

Above is a detail of one of those dioramas. The coyote is a taxidermy specimen. The painted backdrop starts just above the bottommost fringe of tan pebbles just behind the animal. The line where reality becomes painting is called the "tie-in" and JPW was a master at disguising it.


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