Charles R. Knight is considered a pioneer in the field of dinosaurs, yet he was not a scientist. Knight never went on a fossil expedition, nor did he write any detailed treatise for academic journals. Charles Knight was instead an artist that specialized in life-like animal drawings, and in the late nineteenth century began illustrating dinosaurs based on bones that had been found throughout the American Midwest. His depictions were the first dinosaurs that millions of people ever saw, and also enabled scientists to gain a better understanding of the creatures they were studying.
In November 2014, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, displayed many of Knight’s more famous works in “The Scientific Art of Charles R. Knight,” a retrospective on the artist’s career that likewise showcased how mankind’s knowledge of the Age of Dinosaurs has evolved over time.
Charles R. Knight believed in the accuracy of his drawings, arguably the major reason that he was one of the most influential artists of prehistoric times despite creating his works close to 100 years ago. He fell into the field of animal illustrations early in his career by accident – a number of magazines hired Knight for depictions of circus life and children’s books that allowed him to craft a reputation within the field.
Ever the perfectionist, Knight honed his craft by sitting in front of the cages at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. He also became a regular visitor to the American Museum of Natural History, especially its taxidermist department. His connections at the museum enabled him to study the muscles and bone structure of specimens sent from the zoo of deceased animals, allowing Knight to fine-tune his artistic talents even further.
“I very soon found that when I again drew from the living animals, my bone and muscle studies had given me a far deeper insight into their general construction than I had formerly possessed, and that I was better able to interpret the position and flow of the muscles as the animals moved about in their cages,” Knight wrote in an unfinished autobiographical manuscript published after his death in 1953.
His ability to understand the basic form of animals based simply on bones would help the young artist in his next assignment, which derived directly from the friendships he had forged at the American Museum of Natural History. When Dr. Jacob Wortman – who would later work for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History – needed an illustrator for a pig-like animal called an Elotherium, Knight was recommended. From there, Charles Knight went on to meet some of the biggest names in paleontology, including Henry Osborne and Edward Cope.
Henry Osborne served as president of the American Museum of Natural History in New York for 25 years, while Cope was a one of two giants in the field of dinosaur studies during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Discussions with both Osborne and Cope assisted in Knight’s understanding of prehistoric life, as well as the necessity for accurate illustrations of dinosaurs.
“I like to think that we were mutually helpful as we talked over various projects for the exhibition of the fossil skeletons, and we might make models and paintings of them for the edification of the general public,” Knight wrote in regards to his conversations with Osborne. “Few museums in the world at the time could boast of more than a very few fossil creatures actually set up in approximate natural position. For the most part, collections consisted of separated bones, very interesting to specialists but totally lacking in popular appeal.”
While Henry Osborne ingrained in Charles Knight the need for accurate depictions of dinosaurs, it was Edward Cope who taught Knight the intricacies of bringing them to life in his artwork.
“Cope drew pictures for me, and explained with delightful clarity the methods by which he had arrived at certain conclusions regarding the forms and proportions of these monsters,” Knight explained in his unfinished autobiography. “Under his expert guidance I felt that I had stepped back into an ancient world – filled with all sorts of bizarre and curious things, and in imagination I could picture quite distinctly just what these mighty beasts looked like as they walked or swam in search of food. It was only natural therefore that I applied myself most energetically to the making of my little sketches, took notes, and got Cope’s approval of them, enjoying myself hugely meanwhile in such inspiring company.”
In 1898, Henry Osborne convinced banking entrepreneur J.P. Morgan to finance a series of watercolors and sculpture restorations by Charles Knight for the American Museum of Natural History, and for the next half century, Knight created numerous additional paintings and murals for a number of other museums across the country. The majority of the illustrations that comprises “The Scientific Art of Charles R. Knight” exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, meanwhile, were original artwork that Knight created for a self-penned article in 1942 for National Geographic entitled “Parade of Life through the Ages.”
The collection included an impressive array of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, including “sea monsters” that inhabited the ancient waters of present-day Kansas, the ever-popular Triceratops, Woolly Mammoths, Cro-Magnon man, and even a group of Diplodocus, the species that the famed “Dippy the Dinosaur” of the Carnegie Museum is a member. Each painting was accompanied by a small placard describing the piece, how mankind’s knowledge of the creatures depicted has evolved over time, and the continuing work of the Carnegie Museum within the realm of paleontology.
Charles Knight’s drawing of Diplodocus, for instance, shows the creatures primarily residing within a swamp. “At the time that Knight created this painting, sauropods – long-necked plant eaters – were thought to have been so heavy that they would have needed the support of water to carry their immense weight,” the exhibit explains. “However, discoveries of fossilized sauropod footprints throughout the world show that these dinosaurs spent most of their time on dry land. The Diplodocus in front is shown dragging its tail along the ground, reflecting another line of thought that has long since been discarded. Research on sauropod anatomy and fossil trackways of these dinosaurs show that the long necks counterbalanced their length tails, and that these animals actually walked with their tails elevated.”
Mark A. Klingler served as Scientific Illustrator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History during the Knight exhibit, and even had his own artwork on display at both the AAAS Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the Carnegie Museum in 2006.
“In my own career, I have been an admirer of the work of Charles R. Knight,” he writes in the opening placard to “The Scientific Artwork of Charles R. Knight” exhibit. “And, like Knight, I have also been inspired by the ‘real thing’ in nature and at museums. Scientific collections such as the one at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History form a critical component of the ongoing research that helps us understand the world in which we live. These collections and our exhibits continue to speak to artists and scientists alike as they share with us their wondrous stories of the natural world, past and present.”
From November 8, 2014, through April 26, 2015, visitors to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History were able to witness those “wondrous stories” through the eyes of the premier artist in the field of dinosaur and prehistoric illustrations. Although created sixty years earlier, the collection of paintings that encompassed “The Scientific Art of Charles R. Knight” still resonate with the power and majesty of long-extinct creatures that once walked the Earth, as remarkable of an achievement as the dinosaurs themselves.
Anthony Letizia