Creature features
As Perth Museum makes its debut with an exhibition on Scotland’s national animal, the unicorn, we’ve hunted down the best art about animals to see this month
Unicorn Perth Museum Until 22 September
Historians disagree as to why William I chose the unicorn to be an emblem of Scotland. Was it because of the animal’s reputed skill in evading capture or control, so that the chained unicorn in Scottish heraldry symbolises the power of its kings? The first exhibition at the new Perth Museum explores the meaning of this mythical creature in art throughout the ages, in Scotland and further afield. Highlights include the Danny Jewel, an Elizabethan amulet made of narwhal tusk and enamelled gold: such tusks were mistaken for unicorn horns, which were believed to offer their wearer magical protection.
Stephanie Comilang: Search for Life Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Until 26 May
The migration of the Eastern monarch butterfly is one of nature’s wonders: each year, millions of monarchs fly some 2,500 miles from Canada and the United States down to Mexico. It’s a fitting subject for this film installation by Stephanie Comilang (b. 1980), whose work considers histories of migration and colonisation.
A tiger came into the garden: Art of Maria Prymachenko Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw Until 30 June
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, art by the Ukrainian folk artist Maria Prymachenko (1909–97) has gained new prominence, its joyful naivety standing in stark contrast to the horrors of war. Here, gouaches painted between 1982 and 1994 feature animals ranging from penguins to tigers in allegorical guises.
Walton Ford: Birds and Beasts of the Studio Morgan Library & Museum, New York 12 April–20 October
Walton Ford (b. 1960) has been exploring how humans perceive the animal world since the early 1990s through paintings in the style of natural history illustrations. In this show, 63 studies given by the artist to the Morgan sit alongside works from its collection by Rembrandt, Audubon and Delacroix, among others.