95Book of Beasts
Opening May 2019, Los Angeles
‘Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval
World’ opens at the Getty in Los Angeles on
14th May 2019 and will run to 18th August
2019.
A vast throng of animals tumble, soar, and
scamper through the pages of popular early
medieval books called ‘bestiaries’. Claiming to
present the beasts of the world, to educate
young Christians and pilgrims, they often
unwittingly mixed the strange and the
mythical with the real — dragons nestled
next to snakes, and unicorns next to lions.
Sometimes real creatures, such as elephants,
were depicted in implausible and fantastical
ways. So popular were such books that the
beasts often escaped from the pages to
become other objects, from chess peices to
golden tankards. They influenced the visual
imagination of the west for centuries to come.
‘Book of Beasts’ is the result of eight years of
work, resulting in a major show of over 115
items which trace the evolution of the bestiary
book. Over one third of the world’s surviving
Latin bestiary books will be on show here.
The Grotesques: fantasy embodied
Until September 2019, Amsterdam
‘The Grotesques’ is a large show at the Plantin-
Moretus Museum in Amsterdam, running from
5th April to 15th September 2019.
One can often find imaginative, freakish,
bizarre and monstrous creatures in old prints
from 16th-century Europe. This exhibition
surveys the best of these, with sumptious
prints from Vredeman de Vries and Frans Floris,
exceptional 16th century sketches by Paul
Vredeman de Vries and prints by Bosch and
Bruegel.
Also on show are ancient grotesques found in
the ornamentation of other art forms, such as
architecture, goldsmithery, glass painting, and
among the page dividers and chapter headers
in old book printing.
The show concludes with new work by
illustrator Carll Cneut — who has created five
brand-new works for the exhibition — along
with a collection of other works by ‘modern
grotesque’ illustrators.
Definitely one to see, if you like monsters!
https://www.museumplantinmoretus.be/en