Jackson Wyoming Information - About ten years ago

About ten years ago...

There was a rumor going around that a major museum was going to be built in Jackson Hole. As in most small towns, rumors are just that-rumors. It was hard to imagine someone wanting to invest several million dollars in a museum situated in Jackson Hole, which is a rather small town. When the first iteration of the museum appeared it was on the town square in a smallish building which had previously been the administration office of the local bank. The collection was varied, interesting and what most of us expected for Jackson. However, about four years ago a site was cleared above the elk refuge north of town and it soon became apparent that the founders' dream was larger than a small site on the town square.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art was dreamt up by the Kerr family, who had moved to Jackson years before. They found kindred souls among the gentry as well as the little guys, an uncommon mix that is, fortunately, not uncommon here. The result is a beautiful, and different, building set below the welded tuff cliffs overlooking the elk refuge. In the summer it offers a beautiful view of the mountain named Sheep Mountain but known locally as Sleeping Indian. In the winter, however, the elk I mentioned in my last column stipple the enormous pastures and magnificent bulls decorate the fence line vista. The view from the museum is breathtaking at this time of year and telescopes set in the east windows afford closeup views of the animals as well as the sleigh loads of lucky people being pulled through the feeding herd by big, beautiful shire horses .

The collection of the museum as grown to include famous masters such as Bierstadt, Catlin and Charlie Russell as well as lesser known masters like Carlson and Coleman. Even if you are not conversant with the wide range of wildlife art you will be impressed with the variety of images the museum affords.

The raison d'etre of the museum was laid out by the Board of Trustees in a letter to patrons and the public. It says:

Welcome to the National Museum of Wildlife Art. The museum is unique among American art museums, distinguished by its mission and location. With collections of nearly 2,300 works of art, the museum strives to enrich and inspire public appreciation of fine art and man's relationship with nature by focusing its exhibitions and programs on wildlife. Sited on a butte in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the museum overlooks the 20,000-acre National Elk Refuge and is on access to the great Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

Wildlife art is one of man's earliest art forms, dating back to prehistoric cave paintings. Its long existence in virtually every culture exemplifies man's vital relationship with nature, a relationship that has suffered in western civilization since the onset of the industrial revolution and the ensuing technological age. It is fitting that the museum preserves and interprets this art in one of the few remaining areas of the United States where native wildlife still roams abundantly and free.

Our collections include European and American paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. Their strength is American wildlife art, which by its nature is inextricably linked to the Westward Movement. Explorer artists of the early nineteenth century documented the vast new landscapes and their inhabitants. They were followed by sporting artists drawn by the lure of the west's large mammals: bison, elk, moose, bear, antelope, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Landscape artists too were attracted by the west's incomparable scenery, and most of them recognized the absurdity of painting geography and flora without accompanying fauna. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, illustrator artists (the photojournalists of their time) were sent west to capture the west's rugged drama and romance for avid eastern audiences. All of these artists contributed to a genre that is today perpetuated by contemporary artists devoted to the challenges of rendering and commenting upon man's vision of and relationship with wildlife.

Our unique collections and educational curricula are relevant to a national audience. Our remote location intensifies the importance of outreach efforts like our web site, providing greatly increased access to our global community.

-Jon Horton