[Pg v]
ANIMAL
PORTRAITURE
ANIMAL
PORTRAITURE
●
BEING
FIFTY STUDIES
BY
WILHELM KUHNERT
ACCOMPANIED BY A SERIES OF
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
BY
R. LYDEKKER
F.R.S.
London
FREDERICK WARNE & Cº.
& New York
(All rights reserved)
Copyright, 1912
BY
Frederick Warne & Co.
FOREWORD
WILHELM KUHNERT is the greatest animal-painter of our day. Therehas never been a more excellent colourist or more skilful draughtsmanof shape and action; and there is none with a more masterly touch ormore unmistakable individuality. There is no misunderstanding his intention.The lifelike likeness of the animal set in its local atmosphere is his predominatingendeavour. His range is of the widest, and his subjects all come alike to him; hehas no preference for any particular group or family, but draws them all, vertebrateand invertebrate, with power, truth, and sympathy.
With a knowledge of the very soul of the animal such as few possess, hispictures are replete with insight into character and its vivid expression, and fascinateeven those who may not adequately appreciate their wonderful accuracy. “We whohave travelled,” as Mr. G. J. Millais remarks, “do not need to be told that hisstudies from nature are correct. His lions, elephants, zebras, and antelopes are soreal that we feel we are gazing at them on the plains of East Africa. The landscapesare simple but intense; sunlight is there, and the trees and grass are justthose that grow in the habitat of these species. Kuhnert has, as it were, got insidethe very skin of African life, and draws you insensibly within the charmed circle.”
In a gallery his works at once arrest attention by their vigorous realism.There is life within the frame of whatever he paints. He is the Frans Hals ofanimal portraiture.
He was born at Oppeln in Silesia on the 28th of September 1865, andduring his student days at the Academy of Berlin, was influentially advised todevote himself to animal painting, for which he had evidently a special gift. Hebegan, however, as a portrait painter, and from his pictures, particularly those of[Pg vi]African life, it is clear that in that branch of art he would have distinguishedhimself; but fortunately, he could not withstand his inclination. From a painterof portraits of men and women he developed into a portrait-painter of animals,finding his subjects alive by the countryside and in menageries and zoologica