Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body by mounting or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word taxidermy describes the process of preserving the animal, but the word is also used to describe the end product, which are called taxidermy mounts or referred to simply as "taxidermy".
A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle modeling, miniature figure modeling, or aircraft modeling.
Carl Ethan Akeley was a pioneering American taxidermist, sculptor, biologist, conservationist, inventor, and nature photographer, noted for his contributions to American museums, most notably to the Milwaukee Public Museum, Field Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History. He is considered the father of modern taxidermy. He was the founder of the AMNH Exhibitions Lab, the interdisciplinary department that fuses scientific research with immersive design.
Bač is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 5,399, while Bač municipality has 14,405 inhabitants. The entire geographical region between the rivers Danube and Tisza, today divided between Serbia and Hungary, was named Bačka after the town.
William Temple Hornaday, Sc.D. was an American zoologist, conservationist, taxidermist, and author. He served as the first director of the New York Zoological Park, known today as the Bronx Zoo, and he was a pioneer in the early wildlife conservation movement in the United States.
Civic Museum of Natural Science Enrico Caffi is a natural history museum in Bergamo, Italy. The museum has more than 55,000 artifacts, fossils, animal and plant specimens. The museum is founded in 1918 and, after multiple moves, is currently located at Piazza Cittadella. The museum also hosts a library and provide education activities for schools in the region.
James Lippitt Clark was a distinguished American explorer, sculptor and scientist.
Martha Ann Maxwell was an American naturalist, artist and taxidermist. She helped found modern taxidermy. Maxwell's pioneering diorama displays are said to have influenced major figures in taxidermy history who entered the field later, such as William Temple Hornaday and Carl Akeley. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1831. Among her many accomplishments, she is credited with being the first woman field naturalist to obtain and prepare her own specimens. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985.
Walter Potter was an English taxidermist noted for his anthropomorphic dioramas featuring mounted animals mimicking human life, which he displayed at his museum in Bramber, Sussex, England. The exhibition was a well-known and popular example of "Victorian whimsy" for many years, even after Potter's death; however, enthusiasm for such entertainments waned in the twentieth century, and his collection was finally dispersed in 2003. His great, great granddaughter Charlotte Collins holds hope to return at least one piece to the family.
Taxidermy, or the process of preserving animal skin together with its feathers, fur, or scales, is an art whose existence has been short compared to forms such as painting, sculpture, and music. The word derives from two Greek words: taxis, meaning order, preparation, and arrangement and derma, meaning skin. Directly translated, taxidermy means "skin art."
Branislav Dešković (1883–1939) was a Croatian sculptor, best known for his expressive animal sculptures, especially his hunting dogs. He is considered the first Impressionist sculptor in Croatia.
Hornaday Camp (24GH362) is a historic campsite located 10 miles (16 km) south of Montana Highway 200 near Sand Springs, Montana. William Temple Hornaday used the site during his 1886 expedition for the Smithsonian Institution to preserve the American buffalo. A noted zoologist and taxidermist, Hornaday was named Chief Taxidermist of the Smithsonian in 1882. Upon his return from Montana, Hornaday created the American Bison Group exhibit to present his findings. The exhibit was considered an achievement in museum taxidermy and popularized the practice of grouping animal specimens in natural habitats instead of mounting each specimen separately on a pedestal. Hornaday's experience with the endangered buffalo led him to pursue conservation efforts, including the founding of the National Zoo. Hornaday's Montana campsite is the only remaining site associated with his life and efforts.
Louis Paul Jonas was an American sculptor of wildlife, taxidermist, and natural history exhibit designer.
The Croatian Natural History Museum is the oldest and biggest natural history museum and the main body for natural history research, preservation and collection in Croatia. Located on Dimitrije Demeter Street in Gornji Grad, one of the oldest neighbourhoods of the Croatian capital Zagreb, it owns one of the biggest museum collections in Croatia, with over 2 million artefacts, including over 1.1 million animal specimens. It was founded in 1846 as the "National Museum". The National Museum was later split up into five museums, three of which were in 1986 merged as departments of the newly named Croatian Natural History Museum. The museum contains a large scientific library open to the public, and publishes the first Croatian natural history scientific journal, Natura Croatica.
The conservation and restoration of fur objects is the preservation and protection of objects made from or containing fur. These pieces can include personal items like fur clothing or objects of cultural heritage that are housed in museums and collections. When dealing with the latter, a conservator-restorer often handles their care, whereas, for the public, professional furriers can be found in many neighborhoods.
Sinclair Nathaniel Clark was a legendary taxidermy tanner, known throughout that industry for his expertise in tanning animal skins to give them the suppleness that taxidermists require to create lifelike, long-lasting displays. Tanning is the process of treating animal skins and hides for display and preservation. Because tanning is a behind-the-scenes operation of taxidermy, tanners are seldom known outside the industry.
Lion Attacking a Dromedary is an orientalist diorama by French taxidermist Édouard Verreaux in the collection of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It depicts a fictional scene of a man on a dromedary struggling to fend off an attack by a Barbary lion.
Carl Cotton (1918–1971) was an American taxidermist known for his work on exhibition development at the Field Museum of Natural History from 1947 to 1971. He was the first African American taxidermist at the Field Museum and, as noted by museum staff, likely the first professional black taxidermist in all of Chicago.
James Arnold Dickinson, MBE, is a British conservation-restoration taxidermist who repaired mounted animal skins and skeletons for museums in the United Kingdom for 40 years. Among his restoration works are the Leeds Irish elk, the Leeds polar bear, the Armley Hippo, and the Warrington seal.
Harry Ferris Brazenor was a British taxidermist. He was known especially for his work for Manchester and Salford museums, besides other institutions in Northern England. At Manchester Museum he was recognised for his taxidermy-mounted sperm whale skeleton, giraffe, polar bear, and a wolf with painted "blood" on its teeth. His work for Salford Museum included an Asian elephant displayed next to a tiny shrew. His Salford tiger was transferred to Leeds City Museum and is still displayed there. For Hancock Museum at Newcastle-on-Tyne he mounted a bison bull, and for the former Belle Vue Zoological Gardens he mounted an Indian rhinoceros.
