Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo14amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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90 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL at intervals during the years since, constitutes an entirely original line of study that to-day is being imitated with more or less success in various Ameri- can and foreign museums. The recent series of life-size restorations exhibited in the Hagenbeck Park of Hamburg for instance, was largely influenced by Knight's early work. Mr. Knight combines in his restora- tions realism and artistic atmosphere, and backed bv the facts of science and fossil remains of the skeleton, then to place the model in the sun for realistic effects in drawing. Before the time of Knight's work, all restorations of extinct animals, such as those of Cuvier from fossils found around Paris and those of Owen, had been entirely without artistic effect, and while the restorations of Owen were ana- tomically correct, the many made by the English artist, Waterhouse Hawkins, for Princeton and other museums were
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Property of the Museum Gigantic sabre-tooth tiger of the early part of the Pleistocene Epoch in Brazil. The sabre-tooth is shown stalking out to the edge of the cliff at sunset and snarling his defiance at some beast below. Per- haps he sees a huge ground sloth and will bound down and tear the unwieldy creature with his dagger- like tusks. Some of liis relatives ranged into North America but he is characteristic of Brazil the opinions of a man experienced in making accurate deductions, he suc- ceeded in making these animals, which have not walked the earth for a million or more of years, look as though they are alive and in their natural haunt. It was in connection with these restorations that he began his work as a sculptor, adding thus a new medium. He found it of practical help to model the animal first, working up the form from the characterized by lack of accuracy. Es- pecially is this true of the models to show extinct reptiles. In great contrast stand Knight's large series of paintings and models.^ 1 Knight's series of prehistoric restorations pro- duced between 1896 and 1900, are now exhibited in the fossil vertebrate hall of the Museum and have been reproduced in many foreign museiuns, nota- bly Paris, London and Mimich. A second series comprising in jjart the same animals, is now tinder way, based upon more recent and precise knowl- edge both of the structiu-e and the probable habits of the various types.

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