Masterworks from the Rijksmuseum Twenthe and the National Museum of Wildlife Art 

Go wild with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in our first presentation of wildlife art from some of the most acclaimed wildlife and wilderness painters of the 20th century. Survival of the Fittest: Picturing Wildlife and Wilderness  features approximately 45 masterworks created by an influential group of painters known today as the Big Four: Richard Friese, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Bruno Liljefors, and Carl Rungius. Working during the late 1800s and early 1900s, these artists presented a vision of wildlife that valued the animal, its natural behavior, and natural habitat as subjects worthy of portrayal in their own right. This way of seeing wildlife stemmed directly from Charles Darwin’s revolutionary theory of evolution, aptly summarized as survival of the fittest, a well-known catchphrase that also became the title of innumerable works of art. The Big Four’s experience in the field translated into dramatic canvases back in the studio. Picturing wild animals in ways that had not been widely seen before, their powerful images gave eager audiences a way to see what lay beyond urban centers and brought a new vision of the wild into increasingly domesticated lives. 

Organized by the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming. In Kansas City, generous support provided by Neil Karbank and Gretchen Calhoun, and Owen and Lynne Buckley.