[Note #10] The Brooks Hall Menagerie: Part I

Sculpted stone heads representing 12 animals are on prominent display on the outer walls of Brooks Hall. In this menagerie, the east wall depicts a fox, lion, sheep, and boar. The north wall features a zebra, gorilla, musk ox, and camel. The south wall displays a tapir, puma, rhinoceros, and walrus. No sculptures are on the west (back) wall. These remarkable stone carvings are just that – stone carvings. They are NOT gargoyles, grotesques, or chimera, all of which depict things that are not real. The Brooks animals are realistic, even hyperrealistic. Hyperrealism subtly inserts a social or political message into realistic art.[1] Is there a social message displayed by the animal carvings? How can it be read? One clue is that the Brooks menagerie is strangely selective in its presentation of natural history. No fish, reptiles, birds or dinosaurs appear, but rather, 12 living mammals. By comparison, the contemporary British Museum of Natural History had 36 mammals in its architectural display with 60 additional diverse animal adornments.[2] That helps focus the Brooks study to mammals. Next week’s Brooks Notes (#11) will share the path to the ‘reveal’ of the menagerie’s social message.

From Professor Hantman

[1] A Brief History of Hyperrealism, PlusOne Gallery, https://www.plusonegallery.com/blog/28/

[2] Colin Cunningham, The Terracotta Designs of Alfred Waterhouse, London: The Natural History Museum, London in association with Wiley-Academy/John Wiley and Sons. 2001.