Mythic Creatures: Exhibit Overview
Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids at Chicago, Illinois' Field Museum
The Field Museum's exhibition "Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids" explores humanity's attempts throughout history to explain imaginary animals.
Mythic Creatures; Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids at Chicago, Illinois' Field Museum (March 19-September 1, 2008) is an interdisciplinary exploration of humanity's attempt to make sense out of the inexplicable through the human imagination's creation of fictional beings. Originally at New York's American Museum of Natural History (May 26, 2007-January 6, 2008). the exhibition travels next to the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Ottawa (May 14-September 20, 2009), the Australian Natural Maritime Museum, Sydney (December 20, 2009-May 23, 2010) and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, Georgia (February 12-August 7, 2011).
Whether inspired by living animals, misunderstood fossils or sheer human emotion, man has continued to produce fantastic beings in stories, songs and works of art. Mythic Creatures... presents their myriad manifestations in engravings, paintings and sculptures from antiquity to the present. The exhibition traces the origins of legendary creatures by supplementing cultural objects with life-size models of imaginary animals from the water, land and air, with special emphasis on the dragon. The Field Museum's installation brings these incredible beasts to life through interactive stations and video presentations.
The Water
The first written and illustrated accounts of sea monsters in Europe were often based on ancient texts. During the 15th- and 16th-century Age of Exploration, men's fear of the open ocean and its inhabitants took shape in huge and imaginary creatures. The tentacles of a fleeting octopus in uncharted waters could easily have been mistaken for the arms of the mythical kraken.
During the Renaissance, northern European seafarers recorded sightings of an immense devilfish with long serpentine arms. Naturalists in the 1850s recognized the creature to be the giant squid. Early modern illustrations of the sailors' detailed accounts demonstrate how tall tales of what the voyagers thought they encountered blurred the distinction between fantasy and reality. This section of the exhibition treats mermaids across cultures and how myths mutate over time.
The Land
Stories of mythical earth-dwelling creatures from antiquity through the Renaissance are thoroughly considered. Attention is paid to the Greek misidentification of unusual fossils as evidence of winged griffins and gigantic one-eyed Cyclopes. The rich history of the fanciful European unicorn and its Asian counterpart is also discussed.
The Sky
The function of winged creatures capable of flight, such as Pegasus and the Sphinx in classical Greek mythology, is examined. Also on display is a model of the Aepyornis, a now-extinct giant bird that lived on the island of Madagascar. During the Middle Ages, it was nicknamed the "elephant bird" because its immense size suggested it was capable of lifting a pachyderm.
The Dragon
Mythic Creatures... concludes with an examination of the dragon, perhaps the most feared of all imaginary beasts. Its appearance in European and Asian legends is documented. And Chinese emperors' adaptation of its powerful symbolism for political purposes is analyzed.
Source:
- Morrison, Elizabeth. Beasts Factual and Fantastic. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007.
