A Visual Bestiary

David Mattison is a librarian with the B.C. Provincial Archives and
Records Services Library.

This is the catalogue to an exhibit subtitled “Animals in Art.” The booklet is organized in an A to Z format, similar to that used in medieval encyclopedias or “bestiaries” and “uses each of the 26 categories to examine popular and historical, factual and fictitious references…. Rather than deal purely with artistic concepts, the choice was made to stress the all-encompassing nature of visual representation.”

The artwork of the exhibit has been reorganized for the catalogue, but identifying numbers and a list of works in the exhibit help clarify the display sequence. Anyone using the catalogue on site would thus have had a broader view of the exhibit, but the exhibit itself cannot be mentally reconstructed solely on the basis of the catalogue because the breaks between the letters of the alphabet are not indicated in the list of works.

All illustrations are in black and white. The text seems geared towards young people and adults but tends to be a bit didactic in parts. Synonyms have been used for some animal groups; pigs are discussed under swine and cows under ungulates. An interesting if limited look at how animals have influenced human thought.