Friday 1 October 2010

For you, my dear

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A flat elephant and other wonders from the American Museum of Natural History.

I find the photographies of the preparation of those exhibitions as fascinating, if not more, than what we are invited to visit. I also have an odd interest for dioramas as the simple concept they are based upon is so strange. Better than a wax museum, they display usually real (taxidermied) animals in action, as if we were surprising a frozen parcel of their daily life; like a multi-faceted photography, or a single dimension of real life.

On the subject of dioramas, the first time I heard it was the name for those compositions was when my boyfriend was writing a poem about Dale Guthrie, the archaelogist who ate a piece of perfectly preserved prehistorical meat... what a story!

All photos via the American Museum of Natural History.

3 comments:

  1. Great museum, but that flat elephant is very sad.

    -Dev

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  2. Yes, but I still put it there because I was so surprised by the process used to prepare the animals for the exhibitions. And as usually museums are about preservation, I (shall) believe (hope) that it was already dead.

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  3. love the dioramas at the museum of natural history. actually went a month ago with a friend and his son (an artist). no doubt my friend and enjoyed it more than the son! and let me say, your boyfriend sounds very cool indeed! xo bb

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