Wildlife art is one of humanity

Human Race

Human Race refers to the Human species.Human race may also refer to:*The Human Race, 79th episode of YuYu Hakusho* Human Race Theatre Company of Dayton Ohio* Human Race Machine, a computer graphics device...

's earliest art

Art

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

 forms, dating back to prehistoric cave painting

Cave painting

Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest European cave paintings date to the Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known...

s such as those found at the grotto of Lascaux

Lascaux

Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Wildlife art is the most widely recognized of human art forms as its depiction of the natural world, and the wildlife inhabiting it is a universal theme covering all cultures on all continents.

Modern wildlife art

Modern wildlife artists most often seek to enrich and inspire public appreciation of humanity's relationship with nature

Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...

 by focusing their art

Art

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

 on the depiction of mammals, birds, sealife and insects. Most American artists try to depict their subjects in a photo realistic view but other artists have used many different mediums in the past. Artists also sculpt and draw their wild subjects.

Sometimes animal mounts are put into the category of wild art, but it there are clear distinct differences. Taxidermy

Taxidermy

Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...

 is the work of handling dead animals (usually killed by hunters) and mounting or "stuffing" the animals bodies.

Artists

There are hundreds of internationally acclaimed painters and sculptors who have looked to the relationship between people and wildlife as a means of exploring humanity’s place in the world. Important forerunners of the modern style of wildlife sculpture include Rembrandt Bugatti

Rembrandt Bugatti

Rembrandt Bugatti was an Italian sculptor, known primarily for his bronze sculptures of wildlife subjects.- Early life :...

 and François Pompon

François Pompon

François Pompon was a French sculptor and animalier.Born in Saulieu in Burgundy, he moved to Paris. Beginning in 1870 he studied under the noted animalier Pierre Louis Rouillard at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, and later worked as Auguste Rodin's assistant...

. Modern wildlife art painters include John Clymer

John Clymer

John Ford Clymer was an American painter and illustrator known for his work that captured nature and the American West....

, Kim Donaldson

Kim Donaldson

Kim Donaldson is a Zimbabwean artist who specialises in painting the peoples and wildlife of Africa. He spent his early life on a ranch in what was Rhodesia, Donaldson was perfectly placed to develop and nurture his interest in the wildlife and people that surrounded him.Donaldson's paintings...

, Peter Gray, Gary Hodges

Gary Hodges

Gary Hodges is also the name of a member of The 4-Skins.Gary Hodges is a British artist and publisher much admired internationally for his graphite pencil wildlife art...

, Terry Jackson

Terry Jackson (artist)

-Early Life:Teresa Ann Jackson is an award winning Wildlife Artist living in Adelaide South Australia....

, Dave Merrick

Dave Merrick

David Louis Merrick is an internationally published artist specializing in oil-on-canvas and oil and acrylic on artboard, portraiture of both people and wildlife...

, and Lanford Monroe

Lanford Monroe

Lanford Monroe was an internationally-known American realist painter and sculptor. She was best known for impressionistic oil paintings frequently featuring wildlife or equine subjects. She was the daughter of noted magazine illustrator C.E. Monroe, Jr...

.

Wildlife conservation

Many wildlife artists or art groups hold benefits to support wildlife conservation. Sometimes artists choose to depict scenes that stir emotions, such as Robert Bateman's "Driftnet – Pacific White-sided Dolphin and Laysan Albatross", in which a small dolphin and bird drown due to fishing nets. Many artists will also participate in contests held by wildlife conservation organizations.

On July 10th, 2008, at Scheveningen beach in (The Netherlands), the local museum (Muzee Scheveningen) sponsored the installation of an 18-metre-long life-size sculpture of a sperm whale on the dunes, in imitation of a stranded whale. Belgian artist Dirk Claesen, also known as Zephyr, created the exhibit to provoke people to a more responsible attitude towards whales.

See also

• :Category:Animal artists
• List of wildlife artists
• National Museum of Wildlife Art
  National Museum of Wildlife Art
  The National Museum of Wildlife Art, located in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is a museum dedicated to presenting art about wildlife. Located on a bluff called East Gros Ventre Butte and amid real wildlife habitat, the sandstone structure overlooks the National Elk Refuge...
  
  

External links

• National Museum of Wildlife Art - The worlds' premier Museum dedicated to exploring fine art featuring the subject of wildlife and humanity's relationship with nature; based in Jackson, Wyoming
• Nature In Art Museum - Museum dedicated exclusively to fine, decorative and applied art inspired by nature
• Wildlife Art of Gary Hodges - Multi-award winning wildlife pencil artist's official site.
• American Wildlife Art Book - American Wildlife Art by David J. Wagner, Wildlife Art Historian.
• The Society of Animal Artists - International organization of wildlife artists founded in 1960.
• Virtual Museum of the Society of Animal Artists