The Hunter and His Game

 

The Hunter and His Game 

Since prehistoric times, art has been used to portray hunters in the act of pursuing prey and some of the oldest pieces of art are cave drawings showing mammoth hunts and stag hunts. Not only are game pieces old, they are also found all over the globe from India to Iran to modern America. This show has artwork as old as New Kingdom Egypt and as recent as 1917  and in each piece, the artists make careful stylistic choices in order to convey very distinct messages when portraying similar themes. This diverse art oftentimes holds more meaning than simply a hunter and his game; it can also convey a culture’s values or aim to bring about political change. Whether it is a political statement on the ethics of hunting a certain animal, or a religious statement on what occurs after death, the artwork allows a window into the cultures of both ancient, and modern times. The goal of this show is to look into the ways in which hunting artworks convey aspects of their respective cultures other than their literal representations. Hopefully by the end of it you will see that art portraying hunters or their prey can be more meaningful than you’d previously assumed. 

Menna and Family Hunting in the Marshes, Tomb of Menna

Nina de Garis Davies

Copy 1924, original ca. 1400–1352 B.C.

Tempera on Paper

39 3/4  x 74 7/16 in.

The MET 30.4.48

Menna was an ancient Egyptian official and he is depicted in this painting as hunting fowl and spearing a fish. While it may seem fairly superficial at first, when analyzed deeper, we discover that this painting actually portrays Menna both as a man who keeps the proper order of the kingdom and as someone who will achieve his own regeneration and rebirth in another life. The untamed creatures which Menna is hunting were seen as enemies of order, so Menna hunting them is preserving this order. The women and fish were symbols of fertility and regeneration pointing to Menna’s eventual rebirth in the afterlife. 

Hunting Scene

Unknown Artist

Second Half 16th century

Ink on Paper

7 3/4 x 9 15/16 in.

The MET 55.121.18

Hunting was seen as an essential part of a prince’s education in ancient Persia and the Persian king would go hunting multiple  times a month, taking with him young men who were training. While it’s not obvious that this hunter is a king or prince, he is certainly an individual of the political and social elite and the work was likely commissioned to display his prowess in hunting. Lions ranked among the most difficult of game and this work displays the Persian emphasis on the importance of skillful hunting.

 

A Partridge and Small Game Birds

Jan Fyt

1650s

Oil on Canvas

18 1/4 x 14 1/4 in.

The MET 71.45

This piece by Jan Fyt is a contribution to the 17th Century Dutch and Flemish still life movement of the dead game still life. At the time, Fyt’s realism and subject matter was seen as an inferior attempt at art. Despite the criticism by many contemporaries, Fyt’s almost scientific realism displays a shift in thinking. Dutch painters began to ask if art is not something solely to be used to bring one closer to God. Instead, artists like Fyt would paint his personal interests and would worry about selling the painting afterwards. This is a major shift from when paintings were done solely from commission. 

The Otter Speared, the Earl of Aberdeen's Otterhounds

Edwin Henry Landseer

1844

Oil on Canvas

78 3/4 x 60 1/2 in.

Laing Art Gallery B8130

Landseer’s work is gruesomely commanding and violent. It is a commissioned work commemorating Lord Aberdeen’s pack of otter hounds and portrays the increasingly popular sport of hunting otters. While Landseer wanted to use this work to display the power of man over nature, it had a very polarized response by viewers. Many saw it as a disgusting display of a bloodthirsty and barbarous tradition. This response came with the increased consciousness of man’s effect on the environment. The public had begun considering the importance of caring for the earth and works like this started eliciting negative reactions.

Hunting Dogs with Dead Hare

Gustave Courbet 

1857

Oil on canvas 

36 1/2 x 58 1/2 in. 

The MET 33.77

This work, when shown at the 1857 Paris Salon, was favorably received because of its traditional content. Courbet shows an appreciation for the tradition of hunting, but he also allows a melancholy tone to form through the sad, limp hare and the dark autumn colors. This understanding of man’s relationship with nature is very different from the past approaches and shows an appreciation for the balance between life and death, predator and prey. Instead of a glorified slaughter of a wild animal, what we see is much more nuanced.

Maharaja Fateh Singh Hunting Female Bears

Pannalai

1917

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

13 3/8 x 18 1/4 in.

The MET 1992.7.1

One of the first things that comes to mind when looking at this image is the method in which the bear is painted. Instead of a single iteration of the bear, the bear is shown at different points in time, so we are given a full picture of the hunt. This approach, mixed with the way in which background details are depicted and the halo on Fateh Singh served as a statement against the western Romanticized style. Not only does the work display a political leader as a powerful leader, but it also builds a sense of nationalism, shunning western art for a more traditional style.