Survival of the Fittest: Picturing Wildlife and Wilderness

Can art help save the planet? Can beautiful images have the power to change people’s minds? To answer those questions, join us at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art as we tour “Survival of the Fittest: Picturing Wildlife and Wilderness”. This exhibition features 45 masterworks created by a group known today as the big four - Richard Friese, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Bruno Liljefors, and Carl Rungius. This project examines a range of topics, including conservation, colonialism, darwinism, and indigenous perspectives on nature and wildlife.

Buy your ticket for this exhibition at
https://nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/survival-of-the-fittest-picturing-wildlife-and-wilderness/or join Friends of Art for a year of free exhibitions and free parking https://nelson-atkins.org/membership/friends-of-art/ Please arrive a few minutes early at the exhibit entrance to sign-in. Afterwards, participants may chose to gather on the Plaza for refreshment but this is not part of the Sierra Club structured activity. At sign-in - all participants on Sierra Club outings are required to sign a standard participant agreement you can read here, if you would like to read it b4 you choose to participate, www.tinyurl.com/sonsite.

Photo and description from the exhibition of the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming, with Masterworks from Rijksmuseum Twenthe.

Working during the late 1800s and early 1900s, these big four artists helped establish a vision of wildlife and wilderness that remains with us today. Their paintings presented a vision of wildlife that valued the animal and its habitat as worthy of attention. By the middle of the 1800s, European colonial expansionism had destroyed vast sections of wilderness, decimated wildlife populations and displaced many indigenous groups from their homeland, particularly in North American and Africa. Government and private expeditions followed further exploring these areas. Artists on these expeditions often in partnership with wealthy hunters, supported the preservation of land and protection of wildlife. Their advocacy helped inspire today’s conservation movement.

Similarly in 1891, landscape painter Thomas Moran and photographer William Henry Jackson documented the wonders of Yellowstone. Traveling back to Washington, D.C., Moran and Jackson presented their images to members of Congress. Their work offered compelling evidence that led to the creation of Yellowstone, the world’s first National Park in 1892.

The current administration has made drastic staffing and funding cutbacks to our national parks and public lands putting our wildlife and wilderness in jeopardy. Once again, it is vital for citizens to speak up to Congress and tell them that we value all our public lands and want to see appropriate funding and protections maintained.
Take action for national parks:[ https://www.npca.org/advocacy](https://www.npca.org/advocacy)

Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet 🌎
The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with over 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit [www.sierraclub.org. ]