My favorite hall of the American Museum of Natural History is the Akeley Hall of African Mammals, mostly because of the elephant exhibit shown above. Carl Ethan Akeley is the taxidermist/artist of this piece called “The Charging Bulls,” which he created in 1896. Now, this genre is very different than any other artworks. I would call this piece a taxidermal installation. It still stands in the museum today. And just to give people a heads up, I did not take this photograph. The Museum of Natural History seems to be the only place where I refrain from taking photographs. It unnerves me that I’m taking pictures of the mummified dead. I don’t want to disrespect the beautiful animals.
The closest genre of art to taxidermy I think would be photography. It tries to preserve the real subject, but bends reality in a way that creates an artwork. However, the tools of taxidermy are way different than photoshop. Polyester resin and glass and wood are all used to recreate the animal, while in photography, the medium is ink. Taxidermy though creates an installation that’s so much more real. I am in many ways emotionally attached to “The Charging Bulls.”
I once worked at the Museum of Natural History, was a paid research intern there for two years before I left the science field completely to write. All those times I traveled to the back-room research labs, I passed these elephants and they accompanied me. Seeing them reminds me of all the memories I had. I met my first girlfriend at the museum; my group of best friends used to spend hours talking just under those elephants. We used to climb into the exhibit after the rest of the museum closed, and we laughed at how realistic the undersides of the elephants looked. The elephants also symbolized all of the scientific dreams I used to have. I researched mice brains, and I presented my research to the scientists there at the museum. But since then, my friends have moved away and my dreams have vanished, but the memories still remain. And they’re crystallized in this herd of elephants that I hope will remain at the museum.
No other piece of artwork we met this semester is as dear to me as Akeley’s “The Charging Bulls.” I went back to the museum this semester with my pastor, and I told him all the adventures I had underneath the museum. Just seeing the exhibit brought to the surface so much emotion, and my mouth went wild with stories, like animals reincarnated and let loose again.
Artist: Carl Ethan Akeley
Title: The Charging Bulls
Date of Work: ~1900
Materials/Medium: Elephant body parts
Duration: Indefinite
Genre: Taxidermal Installation
Venue: The American Museum of Natural History
Friends? David Herling
