Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-11-04
STUDIO In LIONS CAGE
ANIMAL PAINTERS TO STUDY AT
CLOSE RANGE.
Made in the Bronx Zoo
logical Park, New York-Facili-
ties for Observation.

From the New York Times.
Next month, when the new lion house at
the Bronx Geological Park is completed
New York will possess a studio which will
be unique. Few people know of this des-
tined home of art. which is the outcome Of
suggestion of Director Hornaday, and for
which the Geological Society added 5000
to the original appropriation for the new
building. Mr. Hornaday became interested
in the matter because Of the complaints of
Ernest Thompson-Seton, A. Phimester
Proctor and other well-known painters and
sculptors Of animals concerning the hard
ships they were forced to endure in study
ing their subjects.
At Central Park an artist is obliged to
arrive before o'clock in the morning il
that hour the crowd pours in and renders
further work impossible. In the winter
there Is only about half an hour before 0
clock when the light will permit Of
sketching and with this short time artists
who would have the beasts as their models
must be content, even though they have
come from a distance. To remedy these
evils and to afford the artists of New York
every facility for pursuing animal study at
the Bronx the lion house studio was plan
ned and built.
Close to Nature.
The studio is at one end Of the building
and shut off from the lion house proper, so
that artists while at work may be free
from intrusion by the public. 1t consists of
two partisan auditorium and studio cage
The auditorium is 20 by II feet, with plat
forms raised in tiers, so that when a num-
Der of artists are working together they
may not interfere with each others view.
These platforms will comfortably accommo-
date about thirty easels at a time. The
great studio cage opens from the audi
tow, Z OF crn fhaof 10
entirely covered with skylight, affording
perfect light for artistic effort. The studio
cage communicates with the long line of
cages in the lion house proper by means of
an underground passage. At one end Of
the cage is a lift, which, by means of
spring underneath, can be wound up or
down from the passage to the cage floor.
Similar lifts are situated between every two
cages in the main room.
When an artist desires to sketch any ami
NAL In the lion house, shifting cage Will
be placed upon a car in the underground
passage, and this will then be run upon the
lift adjoining that animals cage, and raised
to the cage level. Doors In the sides Of
both cages will then he opened, and piece
Of meat thrown into the shifting cage will
induce the animal to enter it. The door of
the shifting cage will be closed, the lift
lowered. and the car run through the pas
sage to the lift of the studio cage, on which
1t will again be raised Finally, the door
of the shifting cage will be once more
skylight-the most satisfactory model an
artist could desire av
View Of Animals.
The hon house will cost altogether $780,
600. and will be the handsomest building in
the park. In several Of its arrangements,
besides the studio. it will be unlike any
other geological house in the world. The
aisle in the main room will be built in sew
eral platforms, rising like steps one above
the other from the cages, which will be
ranged along one side only, to the opposite
wall. This will allow every one to get an
unobstructed view of the animals on days
when the place Is crowded. II,
Each animal will have sleeping den with
an outdoor cage opening from the back, and
an exhibition cage in front. In all other
menageries the sleeping .dens are built to
the same height as the cages, thing which
Mr.. Hornaday considers most unnecessary.
In the lion house at Bronx Park the roofs
of the dens are being built quite low, re-
sembling caves, and affording the animals
an elevation on which to climb. Experience
teaches the keepers that all animals OF the
cat family appreciate such an elevation and
spend most of their time upon 1t. This will
not only give them more room to move in,
therefore, but will display them to much
advantage to the watching throngs