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(1) Sample Pages from the Book:
Room 1: Birds as Icons (Owl in Chauvet Cave)
3. A. Leroi-Gourhan, Treasures of Prehistoric Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1967), 502. We thank Paul Hull for bringing to our attention the wealth of Paleolithic stone objects that also portray birds. See, for example, the analysis of French Paleolithic objects found in D. Buisson and G. Pinçon, “Nouvelle lecture d’un galet gravé de Gourdan et essai d’analyse des figurations d’oiseaux dans l’art paléolithique Français,” Antiquités Nationales 18–19 (1986–1987): 85–89. Buisson and Pinçon list swans, ducks, and other web-footed birds, grouse and other gallinaceous birds, cranes, bustards, stilt and other marsh species, raptors, owls, and perching birds. In an article by Stephen J. Gould, discussion of the owl discounts the possibility that the artwork was forged: the ground beneath the overhang on which it was engraved had collapsed, opening a crater that put the overhang out of reach. Gould, “Rhinos and Lions and Bears (Oh, My!),” Natural History (May): 30–34. BACK TO THE CAPTION
4. Here is the official Web site for Chauvet Cave: http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.html (accessed August 5, 2004). BACK TO THE CAPTION
5. The following sources were helpful in our evaluation: “French Cave Yields Stone Age Art Gallery,” Science News (January 1995): 28, 52–53; J. de la Torre, Owls: Their Life and Behavior (New York: Crown, 1990), 20, 110; Fischman, “Painted Puzzles,” 614; Gould, “A Lesson from the Old Masters,” 16–22, 58–59; Morell, “Stone Age Menagerie,” 54–62. BACK TO THE CAPTION
6. For argument’s sake, we could say that the stripes represent the heavy vertical markings of the ventral plumage. The ears of both owl species are long (although it is true that those of the Long-eared Owl [Moyen Duc] are held more vertically), and the range of both owl species covers Europe now and probably did 30,000 years ago. BACK TO THE CAPTION
7. Tomorrow’s viewers will probably have even more information. Researchers could find more caves painted during the Paleolithic and the bones of more owls in the vicinity, but we may never reach the point of identifying the Chauvet owl with certainty, just as we may never know whether the many painted hand prints with their missing fingers, like those found at Cosquer Cave in large numbers (see Plate 17), represent mutilations, sign language, or even evidence of widespread frostbite, but the menagerie recorded on the walls of Chauvet Cave tell us one thing with certainty that changes our view of our ancestors: 30,000 years ago they could depict entire scenes and events--and not just in silhouette--like the fight recorded between rhinoceroses found not far from the Chauvet owl. E. H. Gombrich, “The Miracle at Chauvet,” New York Review of Books (November 14, 1996): 9–10. BACK TO THE CAPTION
Room 2: Birds as Resources for Human Use (Pelicans from a Wall Painting n the Tomb of Horemheb)
23. For more information on Egyptian birds and bird art see P. Houlihan, “Bird Life along the Ancient Nile,” Ancient Egypt Magazine 3:1 (July–August 2002); P. Houlihan, “Birds in Ancient Egypt: The Plumage of the Gods,” Ancient Egypt Magazine 3:2 (September–October 2002), at http://www.ancientegyptmagazine.com/birds13.htm (accessed September 7, 2004); and http://www.ancientegyptmagazine.com/birds14.htm (accessed September 7, 2004). For a tour of Horemheb’s tomb see http://www.osirisnet.net/tombes/pharaons/horemheb/e_horemheb_part1.htm (accessed August 11, 2004). More than one title is associated with the painting. One, “The Chief Fowler Ptah-Mose,” is used by Sir Alan H. Gardiner (C. Aldred, The Development of Ancient Egyptian Art from 3200 to 1315 B.C [London: Alec Trianti, 1952], 61); another, “Keeping Pelicans and Collecting Eggs,” is used in P. Germond and J. Livet, An Egyptian Bestiary: Animals in Life and Religion in the Land of the Pharaohs (London: Thames and Hudson, 2001), fig. 106. BACK TO THE CAPTION
24. The image shown in Plate 12 is not the only Egyptian example of pelicans. A similar scene is recorded in the Sun Temple of Niuserre at Abu Gurob and in the mastaba of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, both produced during the Fifth Dynasty (2498–2345 BCE). Houlihan, Birds of Ancient Egypt, 10. For more on birds in Egyptian art see http://library.thinkquest.org/C0121761/22.htm (accessed August 11, 2004); Aldred, Development of Ancient Egyptian Art, 61; Ehrlich, Dobkin, Wheye, and Pimm, Birdwatcher’s Handbook, 20; Germond and Livet, Egyptian Bestiary, 46 (see plate 47). Houlihan notes that in the fourth century Horapollo wrote that although Egyptians ate pelican meat, priests were to abstain. Houlihan, Birds of Ancient Egypt, 10, 13. BACK TO THE CAPTION
Room 3: Birds as Teaching Tools (Great Auk in Cosquer Cave)
33. For more on Cosquer Cave see http://www.showcaves.com/english/fr/caves/Cosquer.html (accessed 2004). BACK TO THE CAPTION
34. American Ornithologists’ Union, Check-List of North American Birds, 6th ed. (Lawrence, KS: Allen Press, 1983), 242; Guthrie, Nature of Paleolithic Art, 299. BACK TO THE CAPTION
35. More fully: “In northern European waters, Great Auks were also hunted. One Icelander expert in capturing them reported that ‘the wings are kept close to the sides when the bird is at rest, but a little out (so that light shows under it) when it begins to run. That is, run from humans.’” C. Cokinos, Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds (New York: J. P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2000), 317. Is the Cosquer auk on land or in the water? We suspect that it is on land. Auks swim like ducks and dive like penguins. The bird in the drawing does not resemble a duck afloat, and the artist would have had difficulty watching a dive. R. Dale Guthrie sees it differently, however. Guthrie, Nature of Paleolithic Art, 447. See also Gombrich, “Miracle at Chauvet,” 10../RM-3/Great_AukPage3.html BACK TO THE CAPTION
36. Fuller, Great Auk, 65–66, 68. Fuller quotes the observation by J. Allen, originally published in 1876: “The birds were then easily killed, and their feathers removed by immersing the birds in scalding water which was ready at hand in large kettles set for the purpose. The bodies were used as fuel for boiling the water.” BACK TO THE CAPTION
37. Clottes and Courtin, “Neptune’s Ice Age Gallery,” 65; Ruspoli, Cave of Lascaux, 28–30. BACK TO THE CAPTION
Room 4: Birds and Understanding Biology (Ten Drachma Greek Coin)
52. L. Kurke, Coins, Bodies, Games, and Gold: The Politics of Meaning in Archaic Greece (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), 4–9; Pollard, Birds in Greek Life and Myth, 141–142; C. Seltman, A Book of Greek Coins (London: Penguin Books, 1952), 11; C. Seltman, Greek Coins (London: Thames and Hudson, 1966), 296–297. BACK TO THE CAPTION
53. Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, Birder’s Handbook, 639. BACK TO THE CAPTION
54. A seer in the play described the “happy omen” when Greek troops under two kings marched off to fight the Trojans:
“They got a happy omen--two eagles,
kings of birds, appeared before the kings of ships.
One bird was black, the other’s tail was white,
here, close to the palace, on the right,
in a place where everyone could see.
The eagles were gorging themselves,
devouring a pregnant hare
and all its unborn offspring,
struggling in their death throes still.
. . .
Then the army’s prophet, Calchas,
observing the twin purposes
in the two warlike sons of Atreus,
saw the twin leaders of the army
in those birds devouring the hare.
He then interpreted the omen, saying,
“In due course this expedition
will capture Priam’s city, Troy.”
The play is available in book form, of course, and at http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/aeschylus/aeschylus_agamemnon.htm (accessed August 17, 2004). BACK TO THE CAPTION
Room 5: Birds and Promoting Conservation (Banding a Heron)
77. Proffitt and Bagla, “Circling In on a Vulture Killer,” 223. Two years later, in May 2006, it was reported that Pakistan did not switch from diclofenac to meloxicam, an alternative treatment that does not harm Oriental White-backed Vultures, and lost three of its five breeding colonies by 2006, with the number of breeding pairs dropping from 3,500 to 75. R. Koenig, “Vulture Research Soars as the Scavengers’ Numbers Decline,” Science 312 (June, 2006): 1591–1592. BACK TO THE CAPTION
78. K. Brower, “Night of the Condor,” first published in Omni (1979), reprinted in Not Man Apart (February 1980). A report by John Nielsen on NPR’s All Things Considered (June 26, 2002) is available at http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/june/vultures/ (accessed November 6, 2004). See also the National Geographic’s report at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0128_040128_indiavultures.html (accessed November 6, 2004). BACK TO THE CAPTION
79. For a discussion of realism in seventeenth-century Dutch painting see Freedberg and de Vries, Art in History, History in Art, 2. BACK TO THE CAPTION
Room 6: Science Art as its Own Category (Twittering Machine)
11. Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights, rev. ed. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2004), 127. The image and the caption can be viewed online at http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=37347 (accessed June 1, 2006).
BACK TO THE CAPTION
12. Richardson, Modern Art and Scientific Thought, 135. BACK TO THE CAPTION
13. S. Hunter, The Museum of Modern Art, New York: The History and the Collection (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984), 455. BACK TO THE CAPTION
Room 7: Content, Style, and Medium (The Champion)
51. The first two quotations are from Patricia Pépin pers. comm., January 12, 2005; the third is from Pépin, quoted in Birds in Art: 1998, 81. BACK TO THE CAPTION
52. The first, third, and fourth quotations are from Patricia Pépin, pers. comm., January 12, 2005; the second is from Pépin, quoted in Birds in Art: 1998, 81. BACK TO THE CAPTION
53. This quotation is also from Patricia Pépin, pers. comm., January 12, 2005. BACK TO THE CAPTION
Room 8: The Importance of Captions (Two Stories)
68. Ehrlich, Dobkin, and Wheye, Birder’s Handbook, 312. BACK TO THE CAPTION
69. A brief bibliography featuring Brest van Kampen’s work appears in the Checklist (see Menu Bar). BACK TO THE CAPTION
Room 9: From Public to Virtual Venues (Vultures and Crystals)
77. Proffitt and Bagla, “Circling In on a Vulture Killer,” 223. Two years later, in May 2006, it was reported that Pakistan did not switch from diclofenac to meloxicam, an alternative treatment that does not harm Oriental White-backed Vultures, and lost three of its five breeding colonies, with the number of breeding pairs dropping from 3,500 to 75. R. Koenig, “Vulture Research Soars as the Scavengers’ Numbers Decline,” Science 312 (June, 2006): 1591–1592. BACK TO THE CAPTION
78. K. Brower, “Night of the Condor,” first published in Omni (1979), reprinted in Not Man Apart (February 1980). A report by John Nielsen on NPR’s All Things Considered (June 26, 2002) is available at http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/june/vultures/ (accessed November 6, 2004). See also the National Geographic’s report at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0128_040128_indiavultures.html (accessed November 6, 2004). BACK TO THE CAPTION
79. For a discussion of realism in seventeenth-century Dutch painting see Freedberg and de Vries, Art in History, History in Art, 2. BACK TO THE CAPTION
(2) Timeline Linking Art, Technology, and the Study of Birds
1. Rick Bonney coined the term “citizen scientist” in the 1990s. BACK TO THE TIMELINE
2. Numerous sources were of particular help in creating the timeline. On art and culture the following should be mentioned: Chilvers, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists; Elphick, Birds: The Art of Ornithology; Ford, Images of Science; Hammond, Modern Wildlife Painting; Jackson, Dictionary of Bird Artists of the World; Janson, History of Art; Lysaght, Book of Birds; Olsen, Feather and Brush; Pasquier, and Farrand, Masterpieces of Bird Art; Pollard, Birds in Greek Life and Myth; Sitwell, Buchanan, and Fisher, Fine Bird Books, 1700–1900; Toynbee, Animals in Roman Life and Art. On science the following should be mentioned: Coulson, “Ornithology and Ornithologists in the Twentieth Century”; Mayr, “Materials for a History of American Ornithology”; Stresemann, Ornithology: Aristotle to the Present; Walters, Concise History of Ornithology. BACK TO THE TIMELINE
3. During the whole time the study of birds developed as a science and birding emerged as a popular avocation for hundreds of millions nonprofessionals, artists painted portraits of major innovators, some of whom were artists themselves. Examples of artist-scientist polymaths include Frederick II (1194–1250), John James Audubon (1785–1851), Alexander Wilson (1766–1813), Thomas Bewick (1753–1828), John Gould (1804–1881) and Roger Tory Peterson (1907–1996). BACK TO THE TIMELINE
(3) A Science Art Checklist for Practitioners
1. When the United States joined the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1989, multinational copyright protection became automatic, so inclusion of the notice is optional. Thus, adding the words “Science Art” or, more specifically, “Science Art—Nature” or, even more specifically, “Science Art—Birds” to the copyright line should raise no legal red flags. BACK TO THE CHECKLIST
2. To see where to insert these words in the metatag of the Web page you are viewing, go to your browser’s menu bar, pull down the View tab, and click on Source. A window showing the code [Source] will appear. At the top you should find categories with information inserted after them:
[html] [head] [title] [/title] [meta http-equiv] [meta name=“description” content=“ ”] [meta name=“keywords” content=“][A]” [LINK REL] [/head]. Using the proper software
(Dreamweaver, BBedit, etc.,), insert the keywords “Science Art Nature” at [A]. BACK TO THE CHECKLIST
3. In 2008 the authors began contacting many agencies, requesting that the category be considered for possible future listing. We also began contacting a core selection of art magazines, including Art Forum, Art News, Art in America, Artweek, Art Bulletin, Art Newspaper, American Artist, Communication Art, Print, and Graphics, that are well positioned to bring attention to Science Art. In addition, we began contacting the nature and bird organizations sponsoring the Artist Registry for Ornithological Researchers, which are also well positioned to consider including the category in future art competitions and exhibits.
BACK TO THE CHECKLIST
4. When the Artist Registry was launched, the authors and Paul Ehrlich contacted 800 researchers who had published bird-related research, 100 journal editors, 100 galleries and museums featuring art that portrays nature, and international artists specializing in birds and gained nonfunding endorsement from 16 sponsors, including major ornithological organizations, natural history and art museums, academic centers, and major birding and wildlife artist organizations. The Artist Registry features the work of more than 100 bird artists.
BACK TO THE CHECKLIST
5. For North American coverage see, for example, “All About Birds,” at the Cornell University Web site http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/ (accessed October 5, 2006); and for global coverage see Avibase, an extensive database in several languages that currently contains more than 2 million records for about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds.
http://www.bsc-eoc.org/avibase/avibase.jsp?pg=home&lang=EN&id=undefined&ts=undefined (accessed October 5, 2006). For information on conservation status see, for example, the Threatened and Endangered Species System (TESS) of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) at
http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/StartTESS (accessed October 5, 2006); and the IUCN Red List at 3http://www.iucnredlist.org/ (accessed October 5, 2006). Art timelines include
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/intro/atr/05sm.htm (accessed October 5, 2006), and
http://www.xs4all.
nl/~knops/timetab.html (accessed October 5, 2006), which covers from the Sumerians to 1514. Ornithological timelines include that of the Smithsonian Institution, which covers 1846 to the present, available at
http://sio.si.edu/History/timeline.cfm (accessed October 5, 2006); that of Cornell University, available at
http://rmc. library.cornell.edu/ ornithology/ http://www.hexafind.com/ encyclopedia/ Ornithology (accessed October 5, 2006); and several on the Hexapedia Web site, including one on ornithology at
http://www.hexafind.com/ encyclopedia/ Ornithology (accessed October 5, 2006); one on influlential ornithologists at
http://www.hexafind.com/encyclopedia/ List_of_famous_ornithologists (accessed October 5, 2006); one on an ornithological timeline at http://www.hexafind.com/encyclopedia/Timeline_of_ornithology
(accessed October 5, 2006); and one on notable biologists at http://www.hexafind.com/encyclopedia/List_of_biologists
(accessed October 5, 2006).
BACK TO THE CHECKLIST
© 2008 Darryl Wheye and Donald Kennedy |
