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The Genius of Joseph Wolf, Father of Modern Wildlife Art
From: The Natural History Museum
| By:
Jane Mainwaring |
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION |
Joseph Wolf (1820-99) was undoubtedly the finest wildlife painter of the Victorian era. His art broke the mould of conventional animal portraiture and entered new territory by depicting nature as itself. He painted animals in their natural habitats, considered their points of view and revealed their moods and behaviours--allowing the viewer to glimpse the reality of the everyday lives of the hunters and the hunted.
In 2001 The Natural History Museum, London, brought together over 100 of Wolf's drawings, paintings and lithographs, the largest gathering of his works to date. The retrospective highlighted Wolf's experimental and varied approach to his subject matter. In this feature, the exhibition's curator, Jane Mainwaring of the department of exhibition and education at The Natural History Museum, introduces the life and genius of an artist and illustrator whose work is as relevant today as it was in his lifetime. |
Life, life life--that's the great thing!
--Joseph Wolf
 s curator of the exhibition Joseph Wolf--Capturing the Moment, it was my objective to illustrate as clearly and colourfully as possible the development of Wolf's artistic genius. I decided to use a five-part structure, beginning with observational drawing and then tracing Wolf's work in illustration and fine art. |
Observational drawing
I felt it was essential to start the exhibition with a section dedicated  to the art of looking carefully. This section includes a range of work, some of which appears to be by a very youthful hand (although none are dated). These drawings can be viewed as the key to understanding not only Wolf's later and more mature works, but to understanding the man, the artist, himself. I find these paintings inspirational because they illustrate how great work can develop over time with practice and application. |
Joseph Wolf came from humble beginnings. He was born on a farm in  Mörz, a small village south-west of Koblenz in Germany, in 1820. His passion for nature and art was apparent from early childhood. A solitary boy, he spent his free time in the woods and fields around his home, intently observing the birds and animals. He scrutinised their secret lives--the fights for dominance, acts of submission, alertness of predator and prey. He sketched and painted at every opportunity which infuriated his hard-working father, Anton. His singular obsession also singled him out from his peers who bullied him and nicknamed him 'Bird Fool' because he would try to prevent them robbing birds' nests of eggs. |
Bird illustration
Anton Wolf intended that in due course his son would take over the family farm. Joseph had other plans, and this was a source of conflict. He finally persuaded his parents to allow him to become an apprentice at Becker Brothers, the notable firm of lithographers in Koblenz in 1836. For the first time Wolf had access to a variety of books and was exposed to the wildlife art of others--he immediately knew he could do better. When his apprenticeship was completed he set off to find work. |
He travelled through various German towns looking for employment and was finally  advised to visit Dr Ruppel, an eminent ornithologist, who instantly commissioned work. In 1841 Wolf moved to Darmstadt. His skills in lithography opened the door to his development into one of the first and finest true bird artists. Until that time, bird illustrations were characteristically of the 'stump and stare' variety. Wolf was able to breathe life into these stiff, unnatural portrayals, using the new freedom of style that lithography allowed. The lithographic crayon transformed his soft, expressive lines and subtle suggestions of movement into a printable image. He produced each work in charcoal, pen and ink, and finally watercolour--only then would the lithograph be made. This study of a peregrine was revolutionary in its approach, and offers a glimpse of Wolf's creativity. This style of illustration would become the norm by the mid twentieth century. |
Dr Ruppel introduced Wolf to Hermann Schlegel from the Rijks Museum of Natural History in the Netherlands. Schlegel subsequently invited him to contribute 12 life-size illustrations of birds of prey to a book he was working on, the Traité de Fauconnerie. This book went on to become one of the most popular bird books of its time, and significantly helped to establish Wolf's reputation. For the next seven years he illustrated the work of Germany's leading ornithologists. |
Wolf's photographic memory captured images of the living while his Book of Proportions recorded details of the dead. In these notebooks, begun in the 1840's, Wolf kept a series of body measurements for every bird and mammal that came his way. Unfortunately these books have been lost, but the detailed knowledge Wolf gained by making these recordings is evident in the accuracy of his work. |
By evoking his childhood love of the countryside and wild  creatures, Wolf was able to introduce natural settings and a feeling of emotion into his paintings. His drawings introduced a fluidity never seen before. His talent combined careful observation and a profound knowledge of animal behaviour with effortless draughtsmanship, and he constantly experimented with new ways to represent them to the public. He especially liked to paint birds of prey and game birds, with their subtle browns and greys. Some of his best work appeared in John Goulds' Birds of Great Britain. |
Wolf went on to become the pre-eminent bird illustrator of his generation, renowned for his lively and dynamic interpretations. |
Wolf in London
In 1848 Wolf avoided the wave of revolution and uncertainty sweeping Europe by accepting an invitation to work at The Natural History Museum (then part of the British Museum) in London.  Despite his humble beginnings, he was well received by the arts and science establishments--his talent spoke for itself. Sir Richard Owen (the first director of The Natural History Museum) asked Wolf to illustrate his scientific works on two recently discovered animals, the gorilla and the aye-aye. He was also commissioned by the Zoological Society of London to illustrate their scientific journals and sketch the rare and exotic animals as they arrived from the colonies. Their new arrivals included such novelties as the hippopotamus, the giraffe, the giant anteater, the quagga (a now extinct relative of the zebra) and Jumbo, the first African elephant to be seen in London. |
His paintings of the zoo animals often depict them in their  native habitats, in environments that Wolf had never seen. He researched these contexts thoroughly by examining appropriate plants at Kew Botanical Gardens in south London. He had no formal training as a natural historian but a whole childhood of 'field' experience on which to draw. |
Wolf's detailed observation of animal behaviour led to his collaboration with Charles Darwin on the book Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. He provided the preliminary sketches on which many of the final illustrations were based. |
Ripping yarns
The watercolours and lithographs of mammals and birds sealed Wolf's reputation to such an extent that he became the illustrator of choice for returning explorers eager to publish their adventures. Dr Livingstone, Sir Richard Burton and Alfred Wallace are among a host of authors who employed him to illustrate their encounters with fierce animals, great escapes and other tales of derring-do for the enjoyment of an eager public. Again, Wolf took great pains to create appropriate settings for his animal subjects. |
Described by his biographer, Palmer, as having the power of 'revivifying preserved specimens', Wolf often had nothing at his disposal but a squashed skin with disordered feathers and stiff pelts, or specimens preserved in spirits. Despite these limitations, he adeptly conveys the essential character of his subjects, calling on his years of careful observation and recording of animal behaviour. |
 The paintings commissioned by explorers were aimed at the general public, and incorporate wit and humour as well as technical flair. One painting depicting Dr Livingstone being mauled by a lion is accompanied by the blurb 'Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa'. |
However Wolf wasn't always pleased with the way his work was reproduced in popular books, remarking disdainfully that some renditions would 'offend the sensibilities of a moderately well-educated cheesemonger'. |
Fine art
Woodcocks Seeking Shelter, a painting commissioned by  John Gould, was selected to be displayed at the Royal Academy summer show in London in 1849. This was the first of many narrative paintings in which Wolf placed his animal subjects in a context of action, and conjured atmosphere, temperature and tension. At the Royal Academy, Wolf met and befriended a group of young artists soon to gain notoriety as the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They appreciated his representations of nature beyond the control of man. He in turn admired their painting style and explored it in Row in the Jungle. |
 From this time onwards, Wolf received numerous commissions for paintings of game and other animals in natural settings. He never sold in galleries because he hated art dealers, so the majority of his work hung in private country homes around Britain. |
 Joseph Wolf did not only invent wildlife art as we know it, he also helped with the development of other aspiring young artists such as George Lodge and Archibald Thorburn. He captures the moment and leaves the viewer searching for more. Unsurprisingly, the more you look at his paintings, the more you see--which is probably just what he had in mind to teach us. |
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