ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for Bear Awareness Week: a medieval Winnie the Pooh
Category: Animal Art of the Day
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for World Migratory Bird Day
World Migratory Bird Day is on the second Saturday of May in Canada and the US (May 14th in 2022), and the second Saturday of October in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean (October 8th in 2022). To celebrate, here is Norman Lewis‘ Migrating Birds. This entry won the…
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY: an ivory hair comb from ancient Egypt decorated with rows of wildlife
Finely carved ivory combs and knife handles produced toward the end of Egypt’s prehistory demonstrate the high standards Egyptian artists had achieved, even before the Old Kingdom. This comb may have been part of the funeral equipment of an elite person who lived about 5,200 years ago. Parts of the…
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY The Threatened Swan
A swan fiercely defends its nest against a dog. In later centuries this scuffle was interpreted as a political allegory: the white swan was thought to symbolize the Dutch statesman Johan de Witt (assassinated in 1672) protecting the country from its enemies. This was the meaning attached to the painting…
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY: It’s a duck, it’s a dolphin, it’s a…duckphin? (dolduck?)
“Dolphin on back of duck; one head serves for both.” So instead of two heads are better than one they decided to go with one head is better than two? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ “Orifice in tail of duck and round opening in head which allow passage of air through body and up…
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY: a bronze octopus
Historical significance: The octopus is identified by the Natural History Museum as one found in the Mediterranean, probably of an edible variety. Unfortunately, there are not enough identifying features to specify its species. The eight arms of the octopus are exactly as in life, with two rows of suckers along…
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY: a punny shower
This is from a series of nine woodcuts depicting humorous scenes of anthropomorphic goldfish, frogs, and turtles. This particular piece is inspired by the pun of its title, playing off the the fact that in Japanese niwaka ame (にわか あめ) means “shower” and amenbo (アメンボ) means “water striders” — hence,…
ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY: Hokusai’s crustaceans
It’s on my to-do list to try to identify all the different species scurrying around here. For now, I’ll just note that there is an imposter crustacean in the mix — Horseshoe Crabs (family Limulidae) aren’t true crabs, and aren’t even crustaceans. 😉 (They’re chelicerates, a whole different subphylum of arthropods…
