Above: Mural of mastodons (in Hall of Dinosaurs) completed try Charles 

 R. Knight in 1928. 71154 Knight is shown at right (about 1906-08) by 

 elephant head he sculpted for the Elephant House in the Bronx Zoo. 

 Courtesy Dept. Library Services, American Museum of Natural History. 



most ambitious painting projects ever undertaken. 

 Possibly the best known representations ever done of 

 prehistoric life, Knight's murals — particularly those of 

 dinosaurs — have been reproduced over the years in a 

 great number of books and periodicals. 



In 1940, Julius Moessel completed a series of four- 

 teen murals depicting the story of the world's food 

 plants. These 8-by-lO canvases may be seen in the Hall 

 of Useful Plants. Nine of the murals depict the produc- 

 tion and preparation of agricultural foodstuffs; the 

 other five depict scenes concerned with the transporta- 

 tion, distribution, and trade of vegetable foodstuffs. 



Born in Germany, Moessel came to the United 

 States shortly after World War I, following study at the 

 Royal Academy of Munich. "Birds, four-footed anim- 

 als, and exotic plants appear to be his special interest," 

 noted the September 1940 Field Museum News. "Some 

 of his often grim humor finds expression in his portraits 

 24 of the orangutans and monkeys. These commonly dec- 



