Lion Attacking a Dromedary

Lion Attacking a Dromedary[note 1] is an orientalist diorama by French taxidermist Édouard Verreaux in the collection of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It depicts a fictional scene of a man on a dromedary struggling to fend off an attack by a Barbary lion. The diorama was created for the Paris Exposition of 1867 and subsequently shown at the American Museum of Natural History, Centennial Exposition, and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

The restored Lion Attacking a Dromedary in 2018

As part of a 2017 restoration, the museum found human remains in the diorama. In 2020, the diorama was removed from view in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

History

Lion Attacking a Dromedary was created by French taxidermist Édouard Verreaux, part of Maison Verreaux. The diorama is based on Arab Horseman Killing a Boar and The Tiger Hunt by French sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye.[1] In the creation of the work, Verreaux used bones and skins to form the stuffed dromedary and two stuffed lions.[2][3] The human figure was made mostly of plaster.[4][2] Lion Attacking a Dromedary was first displayed at the Paris Exposition of 1867 where it won a gold medal.[3][5]

After the death of Verreaux in 1867, Lion Attacking a Dromedary was sold to the American Museum of Natural History and shown at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.[6] In 1898, it was sold to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for $50 (equivalent to $1,537 in 2019).[3] The work was considered to be "too theatrical" to be displayed at the American Museum of Natural History.[7] The next year, Frederick Webster restored the diorama and it was put on display.[6]

In 2016, Lion Attacking a Dromedary was restored by the museum. As part of the restoration, the museum conducted tests on the animals using X-rays and DNA analysis techniques of the taxidermied animals to determine if they were genuine.[3] Verreaux was known to fake records to inflate the selling price of his dioramas.[2] The human figure was determined to be mostly synthetic, but, to the surprise of the museum, the head contained a human skull.[6] Previously, it was thought that the human figure was only made of plaster.[4] It is unknown to whom the skull belongs or where Verreaux collected the skull from.[3] In January 2017, the diorama went back on display in the foyer of the museum, previously it was in the hall of North African mammals, and the name was changed from Arab Courier Attacked by Lions to Lion Attacking a Dromedary.[3][8] As a part of the unveiling, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History hosted a symposium about the restoration, the diorama, and its misrepresentation of North Africa.[7]

In July 2020, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History removed Lion Attacking a Dromedary from view citing the Black Lives Matter movement and the lack of accuracy.[8] The museum is considering moving the diorama to a part of the museum where it can be avoided.[9]

Depiction

Lion Attacking a Dromedary was created to celebrate the French colonial empire and uses orientalist tropes.[10] The diorama is inaccurate both scientifically and anthropologically and is considered to be a work of fiction. Anthropologists, zoologists, and museum studies commentators have been critical of the piece since the 1890s. The Smithsonian Institution questioned the propriety of showing such a sensationalist diorama in 1892.[11] Lion Attacking a Dromedary was removed from the American Museum of Natural History in 1898 and they considered destroying it because the museum felt that the diorama was "too emotional and distracting for educational purposes."[12] Frederic Augustus Lucas defended Lion Attacking a Dromedary in 1914 from criticism of being overly theatrical by pointing out that by being theatrical the piece was interesting and drew the attention of museum patrons.[13] By 2002, the diorama was seen as an example of "danger, excitement, and exoticism" of the other in orientalist works and was compared to a "sideshow attraction."[13] Despite this, Lion Attacking a Dromedary is considered to be Verreaux's masterpiece by journalist Miquel Molina in an article in Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies.[4]

Lion Attacking a Dromedary is a taxidermied diorama. It appears, to the viewer, as a frozen moment in time that could be reanimated momentarily.[13] It depicts an imagined violent scene; a North African courier on a dromedary struggling for his life. The camel is bellowing in pain as a male Barbary lion is trying to climb up it to reach the courier who is attempting to stab the lion with his saber.[5][3] The body of a female lion lies in front of the camel.[10] The male figure, referred to as an Arab by Verreaux, is a fictional pastiche of five North African cultures and is based on what Verreaux thought an Arab looked like.[8]

References

Notes
  1. The diorama has been known by various other names such as Lion Attaquant un Dromadaire (the original French name), Arab Courier Attacked by Lions (the name until 2017), and, rarely Camel Driver Attacked by Lions.

Citations
  1. Lippincott, Louise (2019). "One Object, Three Histories: Provenancing the Dromedary". In Milosch, Jane C.; Pearce, Nick (eds.). Collecting and Provenance: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 299. ISBN 9781538127582.
  2. Ross, Delaney (29 January 2017). "150-year-old Diorama Surprises Scientists With Human Remains". National Geographic. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  3. Rouvalis, Cristina (2016). "Lion Attacking A Dromedary". Carnegie Magazine. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  4. Molina, Miquel (2002). "More notes on the Verreaux brothers". Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies. 16 (1): 30–36.
  5. Tait, Peta (2016). "War with animals". Fighting nature: Travelling menageries, animal acts and war shows. Sydney University Press. p. 63. ISBN 9781743324318. JSTOR j.ctt1dt00vp.6.
  6. Gilliland, Donald (29 January 2017). "'High art' with human skull goes on display at Carnegie museum". TribLive. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  7. Fuoco, Michael A. (25 January 2017). "Iconic natural history museum exhibit restored, reinterpreted, redisplayed". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  8. Guggenheimer, Paul (17 September 2020). "Carnegie Museum hiding famous 'Lion Attacking a Dromedary' diorama from view". TribLive. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  9. "Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History covers up controversial taxidermy display". USA Today. The Associated Press. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  10. "Lion Attacking a Dromedary". Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  11. Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution (1893). Report of the US National Museum (Report). Government Printing Office. p. 435.
  12. Poliquin, Rachel (2012). "A Window into Nature". The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing. University Park, PA: Penn State Press. p. 97. ISBN 9780271059631.
  13. Griffiths, Alison (2002). Wondrous Difference: Cinema, Anthropology, and Turn-of-the-Century Visual Culture. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 27–28. ISBN 9780231507776.
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