National Museum of Wildlife Art
Encyclopedia
- This article is about a museum in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. For other uses, see NMWA (disambiguation)NMWA (disambiguation)The acronym NMWA may refer to:Museums* National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. in the U.S.* The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, Japan* National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, WyomingAct of Parliament ...
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The National Museum of Wildlife Art, located in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is a museum dedicated to presenting art about wildlife. Located on a bluff called East Gros Ventre Butte and amid real wildlife habitat, the 51000 square feet (4,738.1 m²) sandstone structure overlooks the National Elk Refuge
National Elk Refuge
The National Elk Refuge is located in the U.S. state of Wyoming and was created in 1912 to protect habitat and provide sanctuary for the largest elk herd on Earth. The refuge borders the town of Jackson, Wyoming on the northeast while Bridger-Teton National Forest is to the east and Grand Teton...
. Permanent exhibits include the Bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
, John Clymer
John Clymer
John Ford Clymer was an American painter and illustrator known for his work that captured nature and the American West....
, and Carl Rungius
Carl Rungius
Carl Clemens Moritz Rungius was a leading American wildlife artist. He was born in Germany though he immigrated to the United States and he spent his career painting in the western United States and Canada...
galleries.
The Museum started in 1987 on the Jackson Town Square and was called Wildlife of the American West Museum. In 1994 it opened a 51000 square feet (4,738.1 m²) facility 2.5 miles (4 km) north of its previous location, across Highway 89 from the National Elk Refuge. As of 2011 there are more than 5,000 artworks and 350 artists represented in its permanent collection. Notable artists include Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe was an American artist.Born near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O'Keeffe first came to the attention of the New York art community in 1916, several decades before women had gained access to art training in America’s colleges and universities, and before any of its women artists...
, Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Carl Rungius, Robert Bateman (painter), Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, and Rosa Bonheur
Rosa Bonheur
Rosa Bonheur, born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur, was a French animalière, realist artist, and sculptor. As a painter she became famous primarily for two chief works: Ploughing in the Nivernais , which was first exhibited at the Salon of 1848, and is now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris depicts a team...
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In September 2007, the Museum dedicated a new monumental sculpture of five elk called Wapiti Trail by American sculptor Bart Walter.
On May 8, 2008, President George W. Bush signed Senate Bill 2739, a Public Lands bill that contained a provision recognizing the National Museum of Wildlife Art as the National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States.