THE ART OF NATURE

There is only one university course in Australia dedicated to the art of natural history illustration. Its output is stunning.

A new generation of talented artists keeps alive the tradition of natural history illustration.

NATURAL HISTORY ILLUSTRATION combines hyper-real detail with aesthetic appeal, but the results are often admired more than their makers are remembered. Who now recalls Horace Knight, the English artist who drew highly detailed moths and beetles for the British Museum in the early 1900s? Or Nicolas Huet the Younger, the French artist who drew colourful exotic birds and mammals for Napoleon?

Perhaps the students in the University of Newcastle’s Bachelor of Natural History Illustration course will fare better, given the evident talent of convenor Andrew Howells and his charges.

Cosmos presents this selection from the next generation of Australian wildlife artists.