The Genius of J. Perry Wilson Revealed

As Peabody Diorama Evolves Before Visitors’ Eyes

NEW HAVEN — Visitors to the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History between now and April 25 will have the rare opportunity to witness the creation of a major museum diorama, one day at a time. “A Diorama Takes Shape: Bringing the Genius of James Perry Wilson to Life” is an evolving exhibition featuring the work of Peabody and New Haven area scientists and artists in addition to that of the master artist James Perry Wilson. 

Dioramas combine three-dimensional foreground material with a curved background wall and domed ceiling to tell the story of an ecosystem. They are brought to life by the artists who create them.

Mr Wilson was a master of this unique art, as this exhibition will reveal. A particular gift, evident in his masterpieces at the Yale Peabody Museum and American Museum of Natural History, was his ability to draw the eye effortlessly from the specimens in the foreground to the painted background and into a vista that seems to stretch endlessly beyond the horizon.

The new diorama will feature as its background a newly-acquired painting by Mr Wilson, “Sand Dunes at Point Pelee,” the title of which will also be given to the diorama. Donated to the Peabody by the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Canada, it is an considered exquisite example of his work.

This is a unique opportunity also for visitors to witness what normally occurs “behind the scenes.” Museum Preparator and Torosaurus sculptor Michael Anderson, with tools and materials in tow, will literally make the exhibition his workshop during the eight weeks of the exhibition. Working with trained volunteers, many of them local artists, he will prepare the plants and other foreground elements and place them in the exhibit while visitors watch.

Mr Anderson’s blog, JamesPerryWilson.wordpress.com, documents the involvement of the local arts community and other interested volunteers, and describes in detail the intricacies of preparing the foreground materials, a process that has already begun: working with Alexis Brown on freeze drying and painting juniper branches; with Michael Bobbie on the sculpting of Solomon Seal leaves; and Dorie Petrochko on painting the cast of a black-throated blue warbler.

A short film in the exhibition was produced by award-winning documentary filmmaker and New Haven resident Ann Prum. The subject is diorama making and Michael Anderson’s own work as a preparator.

Each of Mr Wilson’s dioramas is chosen for its optimum habitat and natural beauty, depicting a site at a particular season and time of day appropriate for the animals displayed. Point Pelee in southwestern Ontario, Canada, is renowned as the best location in inland North America to observe the northward migration of songbirds, especially the huge and diverse numbers of warbler species that pass through on their way north from Central and South America. (This migration can also be seen locally at places such as East Rock Park in New Haven.)

Also featured in the exhibit is a scale model for the Peabody’s Timber Line Diorama (also known as the Bighorn Sheep Diorama), the original of which is on display on the third floor of the museum. It illustrates how Wilson managed the complexities of painting on a curved surface.

At the end of the exhibition, the diorama will go into storage to be reinstalled permanently during the museum’s planned renovation of the Bird Hall.

The exhibition can be viewed during regular museum hours: Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm, and Sundays from noon to 5. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors 65 and over, $5 for children aged 3 to 18 and college students. Children under age three are free, as are all visitors on Thursdays from 2 to 5 pm.

Additional information concerning The Yale Peabody Museum, which is at 170 Whitney Avenue, is available from the museum’s InfoTape (203-432-5050) or online at Peabody.yale.edu.