one must know the animals

Overview

Through works drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, One must know the animals provides a platform to question and discuss our relationship with the animal kingdom.

The title of the exhibition is drawn from The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, a novel by Rainer Maria Rilke published in 1910. In the novel, Rilke, who is best known as a poet, addressed requirements for writing poems:

For the sake of a few lines one must see many cities, men and things. One must know the animals, one must feel how the birds fly and know the gesture with which the small flowers open in the morning. One must be able to think back to roads in unknown regions, to unexpected meetings and to partings which one had long seen coming ….

Animals and Art

Dating back to the earliest cave paintings and tribal totems, animals—as companions, workers, prey, predators, and sacred creatures—have captivated artists’ imaginations and served as an enduring subject. From representational to symbolic, scientific to mythological, animal-based imagery has appeared across time and cultures, a reminder of how deeply animals are embedded in human life.

One must know the animals examines how modern and contemporary artists, in a reflection of personal and social values, have used the animal form. Roy De Forest, for example, depicts the animal world in a fantastical comic style. In Out Our Way (1971), De Forest rounds up caricatured men in hats and oversized animals. From a window cut into the side of a giant pink rabbit, a woman stares out to make eye contact with a spotted horse. We are both with and within animals.

Several works in the exhibition present animals as stand-ins for humans. Both Untitled (beso/kiss), 1992, by Fred Stonehouse and Ursa Memoriam (1998) by Erik Weisenburger show animals in the role of the Christian martyr Saint Sebastian. Conversely, Warrington Colescott presents a disturbing reversal of roles in The Hunt: Counterattack by Deer Hunters (1981), as five deer in hunting clothing take aim at human targets.

Other artists use animals to make a social or political statement. Works by Thomas Frederick Arndt and Thomas Hart Benton address the value and vulnerability of the family farm, while Archie Lieberman demonstrates the intimacy that we can experience with creatures other than ourselves in his photograph Jay Dexter with duck, Schapville, Illinois (1974). Similarly, in Self Portrait with Sandy (1974), photographer Cherie Hiser presents a joyful image of the human/dog bond.

Other artists use animals to make a In a bestiary, a medieval illustrated manuscript of beasts, each animal carries religious meaning. The Italian artist Nino Longobardi created a personal version in the portfolio Il Bestiario di Nino Longobardi (1984), in which he included the etching Cane (dog). Unlike medieval compendiums, Longobardi’s bestiary pairs animals with human beings. In Cane, animated skeletons are drawn over a seated and forlorn dog. The image brings to mind the memento mori in western art, the symbolic reminder of death—as in a skull, wilting flower, or burning candle—that caution against ignoring life’s brevity.

By considering the cultural roles and meanings of animals in contemporary life, one must know the animals demonstrates the evocative power of animal imagery and reveals truths about the animal itself and the people associated with it. Society and the artist define and depict animal life, respectively. To know the animals, in whom we see ourselves reflected, is also to know who we are.