Wildlife art focuses on animals, birds, insects, and/or aquatic creatures. The creature’s habitat might be depicted, or the anatomy of the creature might be shown in isolation.

Before photography, wildlife art was the means by which naturalists documented the appearances of each species. Wildlife art might focus on an individual creature; it can show the social dynamics found within a species, or it can show the ways a species preys upon another species.

An artist might choose to do wildlife art in order to express appreciation for the wonders of nature, because of a particular fondness for a species, in order to create an allegory for human behavior, or an artist might choose this genre as a vehicle for aesthetic expression, emphasizing abstract shapes, mark making, distortions, palette exploration, etc.

Featured: The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope by Henri Rousseau.