page_title: Diorama
section_title: Natural-history dioramas
hierarchical_section_title: Diorama / Natural-history dioramas
caption_attribution_description: English: Stereograph of taxidermist and naturalist Martha Maxwell’s exhibit at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. Mrs. Maxwell’s Rocky Mountain display appeared in the Kansas-Colorado Building rather than the Women’s Pavilion. It reconstructed a natural landscape filled with wildlife specimens, many of which she herself had killed, and all of which she had mounted. Maxwell’s exhibition was extremely popular and the fair’s official photographic firm, the Centennial Photographic Company, could not keep up with the demand for photographs. Information summarized from http://www.librarycompany.org/collections/prints/archive/cfav/fall2007.htm
context_page_description: The word diorama can either refer to a 19th-century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle modeling, miniature figure modeling, or aircraft modeling.
context_section_description: Natural-history dioramas seek to imitate nature and, since their conception in the late 19th century, aim to "nurture a reverence for nature [with its] beauty and grandeur". They have also been described as a means to visually preserve nature as different environments change due to human involvement. They were extremely popular during the first half of the 20th century, both in the US and UK, later on giving way to television, film, and new perspectives on science.
  Like historical dioramas, natural-history dioramas are a mix of two- and three-dimensional elements. What sets natural-history dioramas apart from other categories is the use of taxidermy in addition to the foreground replicas and painted background. The use of taxidermy means that natural-history dioramas derive not only from Daguerre's work, but also from that of taxidermists, who were used to preparing specimens for either science or spectacle. It was only with the dioramas' precursors (and, later on, dioramas) that both these objectives merged. Popular diorama precursors were produced by Charles Willson Peale, an artist with an interest in taxidermy, during the early 19th century. To present his specimens, Peale "painted skies and landscapes on the back of cases displaying his taxidermy specimens". By the late 19th century, the British Museum held an exhibition featuring taxidermy birds set on models of plants.
  The first habitat diorama created for a museum was constructed by taxidermist Carl Akeley for the Milwaukee Public Museum in 1889, where it is still held. Akeley set taxidermy muskrats in a three-dimensional re-creation of their wetland habitat with a realistic painted background. With the support of curator Frank M. Chapman, Akeley designed the popular habitat dioramas featured at the American Museum of Natural History. Combining art with science, these exhibitions were intended to educate the public about the growing need for habitat conservation. The modern AMNH Exhibitions Lab is charged with the creation of all dioramas and otherwise immersive environments in the museum.
  A predecessor of Akeley, naturalist and taxidermist Martha Maxwell created a famous habitat diorama for the first World's Fair in 1876. The complex diorama featured taxidermied animals in realistic action poses, running water, and live prairie dogs. It is speculated that this display was the first of its kind [outside of a museum]. Maxwell's pioneering diorama work is said to have influenced major figures in taxidermy history who entered the field later, such as Akeley and William Temple Hornaday.
  Soon, the concern for accuracy came. Groups of scientists, taxidermists, and artists would go on expeditions to ensure accurate backgrounds and collect specimens, though some would be donated by game hunters. Natural-history dioramas reached the peak of their grandeur with the opening of the Akeley Hall of African Mammals in 1936, which featured large animals, such as elephants, surrounded by even larger scenery. Nowadays, various institutions lay different claims to notable dioramas. The Milwaukee Public Museum still displays the world's first diorama, created by Akeley; the American Museum of Natural History, in New York, has what might be the world's largest diorama: a life-size replica of a blue whale; the Biological Museum in Stockholm, Sweden is known for its three dioramas, all created in 1893, and all in original condition; the Powell-Cotton Museum, in Kent, UK, is known for having the world's oldest, unchanged, room-sized diorama, built in 1896.
caption: Early natural-history diorama at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition created by Martha Maxwell. Stereograph image produced by Centennial Photographic Company
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