Featured image credit: Maarten Heerlien
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The next time you visit the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, keep in mind that some of those taxidermied animals behind the glass are over a century old. That’s right, the museum’s nature dioramas just turned a century old. And to commemorate the milestone, the museum re-opened a dormant wing offering dioramas that have been in the dark since the 1980s. They’re even throwing in three brand-new installations in collaboration with local artists. It’s all a part of Reframing Dioramas: The Art of Preserving Wilderness, on view since September 15.
The Nexus Point of Science and Art
It’s been decades since the public has entered the hall of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles that now houses the Reframing Dioramas exhibit. Severe water damage forced the closure of the wing in the ‘80s. Recently, professionals have completed the renovation of its lighting fixtures and woodwork, allowing us to enjoy these “lost” dioramas in their original glory. With the returning and brand new dioramas added to the roster, the museum now offers a stunning 16 installations encompassing 75 diverse climates including deserts, plains, tundra, and jungle.
But Reframing Dioramas is more than the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles blowing the dust off some taxidermied wildlife. The exhibit explores the unique nexus point of art and science offered by educational dioramas. The original dioramas were feats of wonder. Taxidermists, painters, and researchers worked together to craft the most realistic analog to the natural world possible.
Harkening back to the debut of the dioramas a century ago, the senior curator serving at the time, Melville Lincoln, put it more elegantly by saying, “Science furnishes the material; art the finished picture.” In between science and art, you’ll discover much about the delicate relationships between conservation, ecology, biology, colonial development, and even the evolving ways that experts communicate this information to the public.
New Perspectives in the Natural History Museum Diorama Additions
The globe-spanning displays offered by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles incorporate three newcomers, presenting a contemporary approach that pairs well with the renovated classics. These include:
- A Peculiar Garden – Saul Becker
- The Ever Changing Flow – Lauren Schoth
- Special Species: A Delicate Moment in Time – Yesenia Prieto, Joel Fernando, and Jason Chang (RFX1)
In A Peculiar Garden, Becker frames a duo of antelopes frozen beneath a radioactive orange sky amidst a wasteland of glass and graffiti. It’s a powerful piece that underscores the modern relationships between wildlife and human development. Lauren Schoth’s The Ever Changing Flow takes a predictive look at the LA River, using projection mapping technology to illustrate changes in the river’s ecology over the centuries.
The final new diorama comes courtesy of collaborative artists Yesenia Prieto, Joel Fernando, and Jason Chang (RFX1). Special Species: A Delicate Moment in Time presents a UV-lit abstraction of radiant color, creating a kaleidoscopic tribute to natural history. The artists will periodically update this installation. In this way, it evolves over time like nature itself.
Like the artists who worked on the original dioramas over a century ago, the artists who created the new pieces collaborated with an authorized taxidermist from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Tim Bovard has over three decades of experience in taxidermy with the museum. His research and talent were indispensable throughout the process of bringing the old wing to a new era.
Finally, a diorama on display as part of the Reframing Dioramas exhibit will illustrate the making of a Natural History Museum diorama. This diorama is intentionally left incomplete so that visitors can see the considerable work and skill that goes into bringing these displays to life.
How the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles Changed Nature Dioramas
When the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles first revealed its dioramas 100 years ago, it attracted over 50,000 guests. Many were particularly transfixed by the taxidermied African mammals on display. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles was the first museum in the U.S. to devote a wing to African animals. Up until this point, the museum had relied almost exclusively on glass cases to display pelts, bones, and the like. The Natural History Museum diorama offered a much more engaging and immersive experience to guests.
Unlike most dioramas, which are hermetically sealed for preservation, the Natural History Museum diorama employed moveable glass so that museum employees could regularly access the interiors. It’s allowed taxidermists and artists the ability to easily update the dioramas as needed over the decades, keeping pace with new discoveries in ecology and biodiversity.
Planning Your Visit
Reframing Dioramas: The Art of Preserving Wilderness is on display for a full year, ending its run on September 15, 2025. It presents a unique look at the Natural History Museum diorama that encourages you to view it in several new lights. While you’re visiting the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, make sure to see the new Commons wing with the world’s only green dinosaur skeleton (Gnatalie) on display!
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