Jonathan Kingdon:
Artist Bio: Growing up in Tanzania, Jonathan Kingdon lived and worked in East Africa for many years. His work, spans from writing and research to sculpture and painting, and includes his writing of many scientific books, including those in zoology, anthropology and biogeography. Though his fine art has been graced in many galleries, museums and locations worldwide, Jonathan is best known for his magnum opus, East African Mammal;, an atlas of evolution in Africa which is celebrated as a ‘Leonardo like exploration of science with an artist’s eye’.
Kingdon trained as an artist at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, and at the Royal College before teaching fine art at the Makerere University in Uganda. Since the 1980s, he has published and illustrated a major series of papers, and books, exploring the evolution of African mammals, and on human evolution, culminating in the six-volume collection, Mammals of Africa, published in 2013. https://www.cambridgeconservation.org/asc-project/evolution-as-inspiration-exhibition/
Bear and Shaman (2012) Jonathan Kingdon Bronze Gift of the Family of Stephen A. Wainwright in Memory of Ruth Palmer Wainwright
Bear & Shaman symbolizes the uneasy juxtaposition of wilderness and people. The bear represents America’s vast spaces, and the shaman alludes to humanity. Her tambourine standing for the protective role of technology. The surprise on their faces hints at the uncertainties facing man and beast, nature and civilization, as they try to adapt to each other.
Courtesy of:
Artist photo and info: www.cambridgeconservation.org and www.pangolinlondon.com/artists/78-jonathan-kingdon/overview/
Zoo and animal photos and info: The North Carolina Zoo, Tamara Hill
