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305 Restoring Dinosaurs as Living Animals Douglas Henderson 16 The illustration of dinosaurs as living animals is an interpretive work of imagination based on scientific inquiry. Such paleoillustration depicts, in views and scenes, the living appearance of ancient life, presented in a form borrowed from our direct experience and familiarity with the natural world as we see it today. The interpretive role of paleontological art has put the work of both paleontologists and artists before a wide audience. Paleontological artists may be scientists or amateurs–anyone who shares an interest in the arts and the earth sciences. Paleoillustration incorporates a traditional approach to art, a development and use of style, medium, and approach to subject unique to each artist. It requires some introduction to the sciences and an appreciation for the limitations in producing complete Douglas Henderson 306 images from the fossil record. The work that results from a collaborative effort between artist and scientist turns paleontology and related earth sciences into a rich and modern form of storytelling. Depicting dinosaurs as living animals has little part to play in the actual science of paleontology. Scientists are mostly concerned with seeing their observations and interpretations expressed and disseminated in objectively written publications intended primarily for the scientific community. While technical drawing of fossil material or simple diagrams and reconstructions may serve this purpose, fully rendered images of great beasts passing in silhouette against western sunsets and the like generally do not. These more romantic works–which nonetheless tell truths–are akin to the arts of theater and literature. However, as Emerson wrote in his poem “Wood Notes I” (1899) of the poet’s expression of a personal, subjective experience with the natural world: “What he knows, nobody wants.” When the concern of science is to be empirical and documentary, imaginative imagery is regarded as the wrong language. On the other hand, for many people, the vision of dinosaurs as living animals has validity as art for its own sake. In addition, paleontological art has considerable value for writers and editors of books and magazines, museum curators, paleontologists, and others concerned with interpreting and presenting the science of paleontology to the general public. The illustration of dinosaurs, or any other aspect of earth history, has a speculative component. This is the result of several factors, including the incomplete nature of the fossil record, varying interpretations based on fossil material, and our inability to observe the specific behavior and natural history of dinosaurs in life. The dinosaur artist must often contend with many unknowns, many possible scenarios, and only a few sure inferences beyond the fossil material itself. Factors other than science can influence illustrations, such as the expectations and interpretations of the editors, curators, or others who commission illustrations. In addition, the artist may be influenced by long-standing assumptions about the nature of dinosaurs that retain unquestioned acceptance through long-term repetition in the work of other artists and scientists alike. The scientific artist consequently cannot be expected to render a scene that is literally true. Paleoillustrations, like the science they reflect, are just ideas. They can honor both the reasoned view of science and the unexplored realms that science suggests to the mind’s eye. The imaginative contribution of artists is very much determined by the knowledge, experience, observation, and slant that they bring to their work. An important basis of paleoillustration is effective drawing skills, including a basic understanding of perspective, a sense of composition, some command of a medium, and practice at life drawing. Drawing in the field, a disciplined form of observation, is a learning process. Our subjective experience of the natural world can be captured in drawings, field sketches, and nature studies. In the process, some knowledge can be gained of nature and the natural composition of landforms, river courses, stands of trees–a certain wonderful dishevelment of natural systems (Fig. 16.1). This The Reasoning, Research, and Procedures of Paleoillustration .145.191.214] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 02:41 GMT) Restoring Dinosaurs as Living Animals 307 familiarity with the modern natural world becomes a guide and a fine gauge of normalcy when representing the prehistoric past. Paleoillustration allows for a flexible approach in representing the science of paleontology. Artists have been called on to summarize the broad evolutionary and anatomical diversity of dinosaurs over the entire Mesozoic Era, but they have also depicted the diversity of plants and animals that lived at specific times and places. Illustration has taken the form of murals...

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