Flat Out. Acrylic on board, 14 3/8 X 18 3/8 in. Copyright 1985, Bob Kuhn. Collection of the National Museum of Wildlife Art (Jackson Hole, Wyoming).
Bob Kuhn, American painter, died at his home in Arizona on October 1st, 2007. Kuhn was born in 1920 in Buffalo New York and from an early age was interested in drawing animals. In 1937 he attended the Pratt Institute in New York to refine his skills. As a young man, he used his talents to create cover art for such magazines as Field and Stream and Outdoor Life during the 1940′s, 1950′s and 1960′s (the F&S website has compiled a number of these covers into a series of webpages: http://www.fieldandstream.com/fields…669252,00.html ). At age 24, his drawings were used to illustrate argueably the most popular dog book of all time, Jim Kjellgard’s Big Red One.
In the 1970, following several highly successful one-man shows of his paintings, Kuhns left his illustrator’s desk to paint full-time in his studio. During the early years, his art focussed on African wildlife, but as times changed and it became more difficult to travel throughout Africa, he began painting North American wildife, and it this body of work for which he is most well known.
During the 1980′s and 1990′s, Kuhn enjoyed a great deal of professional success, winning such awards as the 1991 National Cowboy Museum’s Prix de West Award, the 1991 Rungius Medal from the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, and the 2005 Wilderness Spirit Award from the Wilding Art Museum for his contributions to a “better understanding and appreciation of America’s wilderness.”
Kuhn’s animals are rarely at rest, rather they leap, run and chase each other across the surface of his paintings. In addition to many field studies for each painting, Kuhn was not opposed to using photographs and watching videos of animals in slow motion to observe how they moved. Of Kuhn, fellow wildlife artist Robert Bateman said, “In the two most important areas of wildlife art, Bob Kuhn is the peerless champion. First, he is the best living artist in the area of understanding animals and their movements. Secondly, in the realm of technique of both drawing and painting Bob has a sense of flair, spirit, and grace that literally soars.”
Kuhn’s official website: http://www.kuhnsnhuk.com (which I actually couldn’t get on to).
References: (collected online October 18th)
National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, United States.
Artist Biography: http://www.wildlifeart.org/Collectio…%20Biographies
Article on the Artist: http://www.wildlifeart.org/CuratorsP…kDate=20020703
National Cowboy Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States.
Press Release: http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/…l/3_29_06.html
Field and Stream’s blog, “Field Notes”
http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/news…ering-wil.html
“Brush with action – paintings of wildlife artist Bob Kuhn – Illustration”
Lisa Drew. National Wildlife. August-Sept 1994.
findarticles.com: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m…32/ai_15638963
