Photo by Suzanne Townsend | The Crow’s Nest
By Suzanne Townsend
Downtown St Petersburg’s James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art is the latest host of the touring exhibition “Survival of the Fittest: Envisioning Wildlife and Wilderness with the Big Four.”
The paintings featured in the show are all by four European masters: Richard Friese, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Bruno Lilijefors and Carl Rungius. The exhibition organizers have dubbed the painters “big four,” a moniker intended to reference the “big five” animals safari-goers hope to see: lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino.
The title “Survival of the Fittest” references Charles Darwin’s studies, which were novel and becoming more widespread at the time of these painters’ careers.
The exhibition comes from The National Museum of Wildlife art in Wyoming in collaboration with the Netherlands’ Rijksmuseum.
The four painters represented in the exhibition are all European but have traveled the world extensively for their art. This is significant because they were the first European painters to paint wildlife subjects in their natural habitats rather than in captivity.
When entering the Special Exhibitions room gallery-goers are greeted with a painting of sparring moose. The journey begins in Europe with Richard Friese’s works. Patrons then travel to Africa where Wilhelm Kuhnert found his animal muses, back to Europe alongside Bruno Liljefors and finally to the Americas where Carl Rungius painted many of his subjects including doll sheep and mountain goats.
Realism was somewhat of a new goal for these painters but impressionist elements put the animal subjects into focus.
“It’s a really peaceful experience,” curator Emily Kapes told The Crow’s Nest.
“Survival of the Fittest” will be on display from Feb. 17 through May 26. The James Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays and until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays. Student tickets are $15 and general admission tickets are $23.
