As it snowed again Thursday and you were about to
be treated to more pictures of the frozen trees
it the yard, and birds or more likely squirrels at the feeders
as they are cleaning me out, when I received my Easter
present. Just as well, the snow is melting fairly quickly.
But we will doubtless have more snow so your not off
the hook yet.
But my Easter present generated a new subject. It was a copy
of Charles R. Knight The Artist Who Saw Through Time
by Richard Milner, Abrams, New York 2012
ISBN 978-9-8109-8479-0. ( Thanks sweetie )
"Charles Robert Knight
reproduced in many books and are currently on
display at several major museums in the United States."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I mentioned in an earlier post Sunday, November 13, 2011
how much I loved dinosaurs as a child,and this interest in dinosaurs,
early mammals, and early man has never really disappeared. Knight and
Zdenek Burian (I posted several photos from his work on my poetry
site for a poem called Lost Things,Friday, January 21, 2011) created
the images that fed the wonderful world of my childhood imagination
( too late I realize I have to thank my parents for supporting this interest )
and played an important part in my first career in Archaeology
( great memories but no money there ).
by J . Augusta illustrated by (the great) Zdenek Burian
So this was a great present. I have quickly scanned the book
and found a wealth of information on Knight's career and the
many struggles he had to present his version of the past through
his murals and sculptures. The new information that
we have received on dinosaurs in the past few years, especially
the many finds in China mean the images shown in my books
and my beloved collection of Papo dinosaurs could well be wrong
and that Tyrannous may look more like a Secretary bird than
a Monitor lizard. But truth be told it is the images of Knight and Burian
that still roam the Jurassic plains of my imagination or peek out
of the stories of Ray Bradbury, the films of Ray Harryhausen
roaring defiance down through the years.
Figures from the Bronx Zoo
Papo Dinosaurs
"Out of the debris of dying stars,
this rain of particles
that waters the waste with brightness...
The sea-wave of atoms hurrying home,
collapse of the giant,
unstable guest who cannot stay..."
Little Cosmic Dust Storm
John Hanies