On View at the Morgan Library & Museum
New York City
themorgan.org
through October 20, 2024
The Morgan Library & Museum is presenting an exhibition that could only happen there. Titled “Walton Ford: Birds and Beasts of the Studio,” it celebrates this American master’s 2019 gift to the Morgan of 63 studies and sketches, now shown publicly for the first time.
Ford is renowned for monumental watercolors that reflect his fascination with how we imagine wild animals, often subverting the historical conventions of animal painting in unforgettable ways.
Organized by Morgan curator emerita Isabelle Dervaux and current curator Jennifer Tonkovich, the show opens with drawings inspired by Ford’s decades of visits to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. To this day, Ford explores that institution’s rich archives, field studies, documents, and taxidermy specimens. The drawings confirm that his artistry is rooted in scientific research and an attention to detail.
Particularly compelling are the sections of the show devoted to Ford’s studies and watercolors that imagine encounters between big cats and humans, largely based on true stories. Illustrated here is one in a series about a black panther that escaped Zurich’s zoo and spent weeks alone in the countryside before being caught and eaten by a farmer.
Also on view are books Ford has loaned, from travel diaries to volumes of natural history, folktales, and fables. The exhibition closes with a display of relevant pieces selected by Ford from the Morgan’s holdings, accompanied by wall texts he has written. It includes memorable images of animals created by such masters as Rembrandt, Audubon, and Delacroix.
View more fine art gallery exhibitions here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.
