|
Wolf Artist's
Statement
With this picture as with many others I
have been asked for the story behind it.
Many times the story comes together when
the painting is completed. I thought that
this was the case on this occasion, that
the source of the painting was one of the
books I had read as a child, Kazan, and
Baree, Son of Kazan by James Oliver
Curwood.
Upon rereading the books I found no
quotation that describes this picture.
What I did find were the intense feelings,
that as a child made me read these stories
over and over again.
The story behind this picture is the
story you chose. To me it reflects the
feelings that made me the " animal
biographer " I am today.
" And in my books it is my desire to
tell of the lives of the wild things which
I know as they actually lived. It is not
my desire to humanize them. If we are to
love wild animals so much that we do not
want to kill them we must know them as
they actually live. And in their lives, in
the facts of their lives, there is so much
that makes them akin to ourselves that the
animal biographer need not step aside from
the paths of actuality to hold one's
interest. "
~ James Oliver
Curwood
Baree, Son of Kazan
1917, Doubleday, Page & Co.
|
