The Surprising Evolution of Dinosaur Drawings

[Sinornis]

Here is a very interesting article about the evolution of paleoart. This article coincides with the acquisition of a long-lost dinosaur book I've been searching for. The artwork in this book, Dinosaurs, Books for Young Explorers (1972), features artwork by Jay H. Matternes, who is one of my favorite artists.



https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/11/paleoart-and-dinosaur-art-2/544505/

Here is a paragraph from the article;
While paleoart is a form of scientific art, its value doesn't always lie in its level of accuracy. According to Lescaze, while researching Paleoart, she met a Smithsonian paleontologist who showed her an original Knight dinosaur painting he had in his office. He'd fished it out of a dumpster after a new director disposed of outdated art to make space in the collections. "They're complex artifacts, and vulnerable in a way that other works of natural history illustration aren't," Lescaze said of vintage pieces of paleoart. "Nobody's going to throw out the John James Audubon, but works of paleoart that are rendered obsolete regularly get discarded. ... It's really important to look back at some of these and say, yeah, they're not scientifically accurate anymore, but who cares? What else can they teach us?"

http://avianmusing.blogspot.com/

[Halichoeres]

Great article, thanks for sharing!

[Ravonium]

Thanks for sharing this article with us, and congratulations on the acquisition of a book you've been looking for.

[Sinornis]

Thanks for sharing this article with us, and congratulations on the acquisition of a book you've been looking for.

Thank you! Paleo-artists like Matternes had a profound impact on me as a kid, hence the reason, and need, to have this book back in my hands again after 40 years!

[zatrex99]

Caption for the book cover: Oops, I didn't see you standing there. My fault. let's exchange insurance information and I'll take you to the hospital.

Thank you for sharing.

To me the old art is priceless. It's not about accuracy, though it is an invaluable piece of history that shows how how science has changed and become more accurate. To me it's the original inspiration of my love for dinosaurs. This is where it all begin and I want to always be able to go back to that to remember that. To remember that one time as a child I thought magic was possible.

[Neosodon]

Outdated dinosaur art has sentimental value for me. Even though I'm not that old allot of the books and thrift shop encyclopedias my parents got me as a child had older depictions of dinosaurs.