August 14-20, 2003

art

Academy Animalia

Horace Pippin, The Elk (1945), 18 1/8 inches by 22 13/16 inches, oil on canvas.

A “children’s” exhibit at PAFA is more challenging than it appears.

by Susan Hagen

Billed as "a lighthearted exhibition designed for children and families," a small summer show of paintings, prints and sculptures from PAFA's collections, many by Philadelphia artists, actually presents a selection of extraordinary images with rather serious themes. It shouldn't be surprising because, throughout the history of art, animal subjects have been employed as powerful symbols and surrogates for human struggles. This exhibition gives us the opportunity to reflect on the processes of living and dying -- and to consider the affliction and resiliency of the natural world.

Some of the work shows ordinary incidents in the life cycles of animals, drawing comparisons with stages of human development. The painting Picking Cherries (1872), by Mary Russell Smith, documents a brood of multicolored chicks investigating a fallen branch of ripe cherries, while their mother hovers behind them. Interestingly, Smith came from a family of painters where each member specialized in a different form, i.e., flower painting, landscape painting and naval scenes. Her hobby happened to be raising poultry, so she specialized in painting chickens, carefully observing their physiognomy, growth and social habits.

Other pieces capture the frailty of the animal organism and the brevity of life. Elizabeth Bartlett's Smelts (1934) shows a pile of small silvery fish glistening with sharp rainbow hues of purple, blue and orange. It's apparent that these gorgeous creatures are destined to soon take their place in the food chain. Percival Leonard Rosseau's enormous allegorical painting, Taking of a Panther in Texas (1905), captures a huge tawny panther that lies dying, attacked by dozens of tan-and-white spotted hounds. This dramatic mass of animals is locked in an epic and deadly struggle. On the other end of the spectrum, John Wilde's small painting, In the Hand (1957), shows a lovely and meticulously observed dead bird tenderly held in a life-size male hand. Bird and hand are presented in the center of a dark, empty ground, emphasizing the quiet stillness of death.

Several other works address the destruction of the natural world and the loss of the agrarian way of life. The enormous painting In the Meadow, painted by Henry Singlewood Bisbing in 1888, eloquently expresses a growing nostalgia for pre-industrial life. Actually, Bisbing made a career of this: He was trained at PAFA and lived abroad, becoming well-known for his paintings of idyllic summer landscapes filled with lovely cow-herding girls and peacefully grazing cows. Almost a century later, Andy Warhol confronted environmental issues more directly in his series of silkscreen prints of endangered animals. The strangely compelling prints Black Rhinoceros (from Endangered Species Series) and Orangutan (from Endangered Species Series), both 1983, offer large close-ups of the animals in typical Warholian fashion, with flat planes of rich color and sketchy linear outlines.

Another group of works in the show seems to suggest a redemptive potential in the re-creation of primitive magic. Wharton Esherick created a beneficent animal spirit in his large wood sculpture, Darling (1940). He simplified the form, a large three-legged deer, into a long flattened curve that ends in ear-antler units and a snout-like nose. Graceful, but patched together out of scraps of wood, Esherick's sculpture has links to primitive totemic carvings. Similarly, in the small painting The Elk (1945), Horrace Pippin respectfully observed the animal's essential strength and spirit, and created an image that resonates with the potential of freedom. Healer Series: Animal Healer (1990) was inspired by Philadelphia artist Barbara Bullock's interest in healing rituals from Africa and elsewhere. She has layered a paper cutout man with several animal forms, and unified the group with fetishistic decorations of bright colors and rich patterns, giving a hopeful message about the profound connections between humans and animals.

The PAFA curatorial staff set out with the best of intentions to assemble a show of "lighthearted" artwork that would "intrigue young viewers," but I believe it's too hasty to assume that animal themes are by definition lighthearted. Clearly, this show has much, much more to offer.

Academy Animalia

Through Aug. 31, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Broad and Cherry sts., 215-972-7600.