The American Museum Journal 



Volume XIV 



MARCH, 1914 



Number 3 



CHARLES R. KNIGHT — PAINTER AND SCULPTOR 



OF ANIMALS 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION RELATIVE TO THE UNION 

 SCIENCE IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 



Illustrations 1 from the canvases of the Artist 



OF ART AND 



THERE are many people who 

 know something of the Ameri- 

 can Museum of the past — of 

 its small beginning in the Arsenal in 

 Central Park and its change to the new 

 building, the central wing of the present 

 structure; of its many years of strictly 

 technical exhibits, systematic collections 

 like some still to be 

 seen as in the 

 North American 

 bird hall; of the 

 addition of the 

 south facade and 

 the west wing and 

 the gradual intro- 

 duction of exhibits 

 more adapted to 

 the needs and the 

 pleasure of the peo- 

 ple. 



We know that 

 the construction of 

 its buildings has al- 

 ways been in the 

 hands of architect* 



of a high order, that its exhibits have 

 been under the supervision of a staff of 

 more or less note ;n the scientific world. 

 Do we know that now its exhibits and the 

 newly-planned east facade of the build- 



1 Illustrations copyrighted by the American 

 Museiim of Natural History, the Century Com- 

 pany and Charles R. Knight. 



Leopard drawing 



ing are calling to the work not only 

 scientists, not only architects, but also 

 various noted representatives from the 

 guild that has the creation of the beau- 

 tiful its aim — namely, sculptors and 

 painters. It is interesting in this con- 

 nection that almost the first step toward 

 the foundation of science museums in this 

 country was made 

 in Philadelphia at 

 the close of the 

 eighteenth century 

 l)y Charles Wilson 

 Peale, an artist 

 who had first been 

 a taxidermist. He 

 was a man of fame 

 as a portrait paint- 

 er of the great men 

 of his time, and by 

 painting a portrait 

 of himself in his 

 museum he made 

 this early step 

 toward science mu- 

 seums an unforget- 

 able one in history. This picture is 

 reproduced through the courtesy of the 

 Penns3^1vania Academy of Fine Arts. 



To-day in the American Museum 

 Hobart Nichols, one of our rising land- 

 scape painters, is continually called upon 

 to paint large background canvases for 

 cycloramic groups, and similar work is 



83 



Property of the Artist 

 showing pencil technique 



