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arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Art History Animalia
@arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
4.2K followers 370 following 2.8K posts
Zoologist exploring animal iconography via intersections of natural history with art & visual culture history. AKA Deniz (she/they), PhD student @ UD.
https://linktr.ee/arthistoryanimalia
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arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
For #FrogFriday, another cool #MesoamericanBallgame piece seen at @explorenoma.bsky.social :
Stone #Frog Yoke
Veracruz Culture, Gulf Coast Mexico, c. 600-900 CE
NOMA 2001. 338
#MesoamericanArt #IndigenousArt
#HSS2025
photo of the frog form yoke in display case, front view (ceremonial version of Mesoamerican Ballgame gear) photo of the frog form yoke in display case, side view (ceremonial version of Mesoamerican Ballgame gear)
November 15, 2025 at 5:54 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Favorite animal #sculptures from my walk around the gorgeous grounds of the NOMA Sculpture Garden:
1. Louise Bourgeois
Spider, 1996, Bronze
2. Wangechi Mutu
Crocodylus, 2020, Bronze
3. Frank Gehry
Bear With Us, 2014, Stainless Steel
4. Paul Manship
Tortoise, 1916, cast 1998, Bronze
#HSS2025
photo of outdoor sculpture: Louise Bourgeois American, born in France, 1911-2010 Spider, 1996 Bronze Gift of Sydney and Walda Besthoff, 98.112 photo of outdoor sculpture: Wangechi Mutu Kenyan-American, b. 1972 Crocodylus, 2020 Bronze Gift of Sydney and Walda Besthoff, 2021.33 photo of outdoor sculpture: Frank Gehry American, (b. Canada), b. 1929 Bear with Us, 2014 Stainless steel Gift of Sydney and Walda Besthoff, 2019.3 photo of outdoor sculpture: Paul Manship American, 1885-1966 Tortoise, 1916; cast 1998 Bronze Gift of Sydney and Walda Besthoff, 2000.210
November 15, 2025 at 5:35 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Hey #HSS2025 peeps - if you haven’t seen it already, make sure you admire this #PopArt piano in the hotel lobby, painted & signed by the late great George Rodrigue (Louisiana, USA, 1944 – 2013), featuring his iconic #BlueDog 💙
#DogsInArt
photo of the piano in the lobby of the Sheraton New Orleans, painted by George Rodrigue (signed) - colorful pop art featuring several of his iconic #BlueDog images
November 15, 2025 at 2:09 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Found a tiny but cool gallery with Dr. Seuss art in the NOLA French Quarter!
1. #Lion Stroll, 1973 (serigraph)
2. Flower #Fish, c.1947 (serigraph)
#HSS2025
photo of the street side gallery sign for The Art of Dr. Seuss 718 Bienville St New Orleans, LA 70130 Neighborhood: French Quarter photo of the Lion Stroll artwork on display at gallery (serigraph of original, on canvas, framed) “Adapted posthumously from the original oil canvas. Throughout his career, Ted Geisel was fond of bold color, felines, and strong design; the three critical elements featured in his 1970s oil painting, Lion Stroll. In 1973, Ted donated what he considered his “greatest work,” the lion wading pool, to San Diego’s Wild Animal Park. Around this time, he painted Lion Stroll.” photo of the Flower Fish artwork on display at gallery (serigraph of original, on canvas, framed) “Adapted posthumously from the pencil and gouache on board created for the 1947 book, McElligot’s Pool. For McElligot’s Pool, Dr. Seuss created fanciful paintings for every single page, in contrast to the astute illustrations done for the vast majority of his children’s books. As one leafs through the volume, Flower Fishnever fails to catch the eye. The flowery and floating exaggeration of her fins is obviously where she gets her name and the architectural renderings that Ted so loved to put in his work, are transformed here to her underwater playground.”
November 15, 2025 at 1:41 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
#BookRecommendation nice clean like new copy found & left at Crescent City Books in downtown New Orleans, a short walk from #HSS2025 (the only reason I didn’t grab it for myself is that I already own it LOL!)
_Glass Animals: 3500 Years of Artistry and Design_ by Albane Dolez (1988)
photo of the book found at bookstore (cover)
November 15, 2025 at 1:20 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Visited the Audubon Aquarium & Insectarium today and got a cool shirt from each side — which one should I wear at #HSS2025 tomorrow? 🤔
photo of Audubon Aquarium t shirt - teal with multicolor blocks of various sea creature & NOLA icons photo of Audubon Aquarium t shirt - off white with “ROLL WITH IT” and two dung beetles rolling a dung ball!
November 15, 2025 at 1:07 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
@explorenoma.bsky.social NOMA has an entire wall of 19th c. Palissy Ware...
“This menagerie [was] made in the late 1800s, but were a direct tribute to the ‘rustic-ware’ platters made by sixteenth-century naturalist/artist Bernard Palissy (French, 1510-1590).”
photo of the visual key and label list for the wall display (19 pieces) “This menagerie of ceramic reptiles, shellfish, and aquatic plants were all made in the late 1800s, but were a direct tribute to the "rustic-ware" platters made by sixteenth-century naturalist/artist Bernard Palissy (French, 1510-1590). Palissy combined his talent in pottery with his enthusiasm for natural science, life-casting actual specimens of sea creatures and shells. There are precious few known examples of Palissy's originals, but potters in the Victorian era revived his unique style. European ceramics factories, notably in France and Portugal, produced vibrantly-glazed Palissy-style pieces that are a clear tribute to the Renaissance's appreciation for mixing the arts of man and nature.” photo of plate #9 with fish, frogs, salamanders, snakes, moths, shells, plants “French, Paris "Palissy ware" round platter, c.1865-1870 Glazed earthenware Gift of Brooke Hayward Duchin, 97.713” photo of plate #18 with salamanders, snakes, frogs, shells, plants “French, Paris "Palissy ware" round platter, c. 1860-1870 Glazed earthenware Gift of Brooke Hayward Duchin, 97.708”
November 14, 2025 at 1:55 PM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Another favorite find from my visit to @explorenoma.bsky.social :
Shirai Naotaka (Japan, 1756-1833)
#Mice Eating a Turkey Feather Fan, n.d.
Ink & color on silk (on hanging scroll)
NOMA 2003.158
#JapaneseArt #HSS2025
photo of the artwork on display at museum hanging scroll with illustration of a group of ten grey mice with a turkey feather fan and a basket, with some nibbling on the fan, some climbing the basket, and some grooming Zoomed in view of the illustration
November 14, 2025 at 1:42 PM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
OMG BATS 🦇
This piece is amazing.

Palma Depicting a Ball Player and Flying #Bats
Veracruz Culture, Mexico, Gulf Coast, c. 200-900 CE
Volcanic stone
@explorenoma.bsky.social NOMA
#IndigenousArt #HSS2025
photo of the sculpture on display at museum closeup of top half with two bats closeup of bottom half with a third bat and human figure
November 14, 2025 at 3:50 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
OK, these bird boots slay! 😍
✨fashion✨

King's Boots
Yoruba Peoples, Ijebu Region,
Nigeria, ca. late19th - early 20th c.
Glass beads, cloth
On display at @explorenoma.bsky.social NOMA 91.29
#AfricanArt #BirdsInArt #HSS2025
photo of the King’s Boots on display: Beaded boots with colorful geometric designs, each also with a row of sculpted bird figures perched down front center
November 14, 2025 at 3:35 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
More from today’s visit to @explorenoma.bsky.social :
Gelede Masquerade Headdress with Pair of #Warthog Heads (Imado)
Yoruba Peoples, Nigeria, early 20th c.
Wood, pigment, leather, nails, traces of animal fur, clay
NOMA 90.391
#AfricanArt #HSS2025
photo of the artwork on display at museum, view 1 (quarter turn side) “Gelede carving of a woman's face, depicted as youthful, with skillfully painted coiffure. A pair of warthogs adorn the woman's head. A series of three scarification markings, colored with blue pigment, on cheeks and forehead.” photo of the artwork on display at museum, view 2 (front) “Gelede carving of a woman's face, depicted as youthful, with skillfully painted coiffure. A pair of warthogs adorn the woman's head. A series of three scarification markings, colored with blue pigment, on cheeks and forehead.”
November 14, 2025 at 3:11 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
More from today’s visit to @explorenoma.bsky.social :
State Sword Ornament (Abosodee)
Akan Peoples, Ghana
Gold, felt; 2 1/2 x 5 1/4 x 13 in (6.35 x 13.335 x 33.02 cm)
NOMA 2007.96
“Gold #crocodile ornament of a ritual sword.”
#AfricanArt #HSS2025
“Gold crocodile ornament of a ritual sword. Long snout with open mouth, narrow eye openings, and several eye-shaped openings on the body. All openings reveal red felt lining. Crosshatched impressed design creates scale pattern on back, and serrated ridge follows animal's spine starting mid-back. Four legs with delicately modeled claws, each incised with parallel diagonal lines. Rhombus shaped design adorns animal's head with linear design within.” (via NOMA)
November 14, 2025 at 2:48 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
More from today’s visit to @explorenoma.bsky.social :
Two-Handled Wine Bowl (Skyphos) with #Swans
Apulia, Italy ( #AncientGreece ), 350-300 BCE
Gnathian-ware terracotta ceramic, polychrome slips
NOMA 2004.90
#BirdsInArt #HSS2025
photo of the Skyphos on display at museum close-up of the swan in center of design
November 14, 2025 at 1:17 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Bonus #spiders 🕷️:
Rookwood Pottery (Cincinnati, OH, USA), Decorated by Maria Longworth Nichols (USA, 1849-1932)
"Limoges style" Turkish Coffeepot, 1883
Earthenware
@explorenoma.bsky.social NOMA 91.114.a,.b
#HSS2025
photo of the coffee pot on display at museum closeup of three black spiders on pottery scene photo of the gallery label Rookwood Pottery (United States, Cincinnati, OH, 1880-1967) Decorated by Maria Longworth Nichols (American 1849-1932) "Limoges style" Turkish Coffeepot, 1883 Earthenware Museum purchase, Françoise Billion Richardson Fund, 91.114.a,.b
November 13, 2025 at 10:12 PM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Yay I found the giant #spider! 🕷️
Also check out this book they have in the gift shop 😂
Louise Bourgeois (USA, b. France, 1911-2010)
Spider, 1996
Bronze
@explorenoma.bsky.social NOMA Sculpture Garden 98.112
#HSS2025
photo of the giant spider sculpture in the sculpture garden photo of the book in gift shop: LOUISE BOURGEOIS Made Giant Spiders and Wasn't Sorry. by Fausto Gilberti
November 13, 2025 at 10:01 PM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Another presenter in Sunday’s “Thinking with Birds” session at #HSS2025! (I'll be presenting on the visual record of the mysterious “Ash Grey and Red #Parrot”)
sthosdkane.bsky.social Seán Thomas Kane @sthosdkane.bsky.social · 3d
On Sunday at 11 am CT I will be presenting a fun project of mine concerning Thevet’s flightless seabird sighting on 26 Oct. 1555 which contributed to the taxonomic muddle between penguins (L) and the Great auk (R). Come see me at #HSS2025 in room Napoleon A2 (3rd floor). #histsci #earlymodern
An engraving of a Magellanic penguin from 1605. A photograph of a stuffed Great auk taken by the author at the Field Museum in June 2025.
November 13, 2025 at 4:14 PM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Anyone I know attending the #HSS2025 @historyscience.bsky.social annual meeting in New Orleans? I'll be around all week & am presenting Sunday in the “Thinking with Birds” session…also planning to visit the New Orleans Museum of Art & Audubon Aquarium & Insectarium - DM me if you wanna meet up! 😎
a man in a costume says " y know how long i been waiting for this ? "
Alt: GIF: Gambit meme from Deadpool movie "y’know how long i been waiting for this? Whoo boutta make a name for myself out here”
media.tenor.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Reposted by Art History Animalia
romanceofbooks.bsky.social
'The Infant's Cabinet of Insects.' London: Printed and Sold by John Marshall, No. 4 Aldermary Church-Yard, in Bow Lane, 1801.

I saw this at Harvard's Houghton Library.

Someone should recreate this!

#insectart #naturalhistory #specialcollections #sciart
November 7, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Art History Animalia
romanceofbooks.bsky.social
Fish from John Hill’s

‘A general natural history, or, New and accurate descriptions of the animals, vegetables, and minerals, of the different parts of the world…’

London: Printed for Thomas Osborne, in Gray’s-Inn, Holbourn, 1748-1752

UW-Madison Special Collections.

#rarebooks #naturalhistory
November 6, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Art History Animalia
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Happy Sunday! 🦛 💙

Adorable ancient Egyptian blue faience hippos made by artisans some 4,000 years ago!

📷 by me

#Archaeology
My photo collage shows four hippo statuettes made of Egytian blue faience, a ceramic material made of ground quartz. Their bright-blue shiny bodies are decorated in black with depictions of Nile river plants such as water weed and lotus flowers. This decoration depicts their marsh habitat as well as having various layers of symbolism associated with regeneration. For example lotus flowers open in the morning and close at night, symbolising rebirth. Blue faience hippos have been found in Middle Kingdom tombs of high ranking officials. It’s thought they were placed in the tombs to aid the rebirth of the deceased. Hippo top left - Walking hippo shown in profile facing right. Height 11.5 cm, Length 21 cm. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Top right - Roaring hippo (looks like the hippo is smiling), seated, with head at left and turned inwards to front. Height 7.5 cm, length 12.5 cm. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. Bottom left - Standing hippo in profile facing right. This hippo is part of the Met Museum’s collections and is popularly known as ‘William’. Height 11.2 cm, Length 20 cm Bottom Right - Reclining hippo with head on the right, facing front, and tilted down. Egyptian Museum, Cairo
November 9, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Art History Animalia
drnwillburger.bsky.social
For #MosaicMonday a charming duck.
Found in Trier, dating 4th century AD

📷 me

On display at Museum am Dom, Trier

🏺 #archaeology
A mosaic depicting a duck
November 10, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Art History Animalia
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Delightful detail from the Roman “unswept floor” mosaic by Heraclitus, showing a mouse nibbling a walnut.

Superb use of darker tiles for subtle shadow effect!

2nd century AD. Vatican Museums www.museivaticani.va/content/muse...

#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology
The image shows detail from a floor mosaic of a brown mouse on a pale background facing left with its nose close to half a walnut in its shell. The mouse has a long thin tail stretched out behind. The mosaicist has used a mix of lighter and darker brown tiles for the mouse’s body to hint at fur. The walnut is created with warmer light and dark brown tiles. Slightly darker background tiles have been used beneath the mouse and walnut to create subtle shadows
November 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Reposted by Art History Animalia
biodiversitypix.bsky.social
🐺 Ibis
[London]Published for the British Ornithologists' Union by Academic Press.

[Source]
Illustration of a black bird, Cephalopterus penduliger, perched on a mossy branch with green and yellow leaves in the background. The bird has a distinctive large, pendulous throat pouch hanging from its neck and a curved crest on its head. Its beak is slightly open, showing the detailed feathers and textured plumage. The artwork is signed by J. Wolf and printed by M & N. Hanhart, dated 1859, from a publication by the British Ornithologists' Union titled "Ibis." The illustration emphasizes the bird's unique throat pouch and elegant posture.
November 10, 2025 at 9:23 AM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
William Patrick Roberts (UK, 1895–1980)
The Cockatoos, 1958
Oil on canvas, 813 x 508 mm
@tate.bsky.social T00196
www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks...
#Parrots #Cockatoos #Macaws #BirdsInArt
modern art painting depicting what appears to be a pet shop, with 3 human figures on right (1 adult with two children) waving at a group of five parrots perched on stands to the right (white cockatoo, black cockatoo, red and blue macaw, blue and yellow macaw, and a fifth red parrot behind that might be a lorry)
November 10, 2025 at 1:04 PM
arthistoryanimalia.bsky.social
Meryl Smith (NY, USA, 1979)
#Herons, n.d.
Oil on canvas, 40” x 30“
merylsmith.com/herons
#BirdsInArt #ContrmporaryArt #WomenArtists
@everyheron.bsky.social 👀
painting depicting a trio of herons (grey-blue) standing together with exaggerated long legs and long necks, necks twisted together, on plain cream colored background
November 10, 2025 at 12:17 PM