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Located in Jamestown, NY, birthplace of Roger Tory Peterson, the Institute preserves the legacy of the most preeminent naturalist of the 20th century and creator of the legendary Peterson Field Guides. That legacy includes Peterson’s collection of art, writing and photography, a national leadership program in teacher education, and exhibitions of nature art, all within in a spectacular building designed by Robert A. M. Stern.
RTPI’s mission reflects RTP’s belief that people who develop awareness and passion for the natural world will become committed to its preservation. Please visit www.rtpi.org for more information on our current programs and upcoming events.
See you on your next visit!
A Guide to Nature: The Art of Arthur Singer with Alan Singer – through December 2, 2012, presented by Wild Birds Unlimited
Arthur Singer (1917-1990) was an internationally recognized artist whose work became a crucial factor in a wave of interest in nature and conservation. Like that of Roger Tory Peterson, Arthur's art helped educate a public eager to see, understand, and protect the environment. Arthur‘s paintings have been featured in gallery and museum shows, prints, books, collectibles, and U.S. Postage stamps. Later in his career he enlisted his son, Alan, to help him revise books and create botanical backgrounds for his compositions in the tradition of John James Audubon and his sons.
From the time of his youth in New York City, Arthur loved to portray nature, often sketching wildlife at the Bronx Zoo. He also loved jazz; Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway commissioned some of his earliest artwork. Arthur studied Carl Rungius and the murals of Francis Lee Jacques at the American Museum of Natural History and was entranced by the illustrations of Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Audubon as his own career as an illustrator and designer took off.
A Guide to Nature features some 50 works that include a range of book illustrations and designs along with full-scale paintings that frame the arc of Arthur Singer's spectacular career. The exhibition also includes a selection of field guide illustrations from the Institute's renowned collection of Peterson originals, providing never-before-seen opportunities to compare and contrast Arthur's original illustrations with those of his friend, colleague and competitor Roger Tory Peterson. For anyone interested in nature-inspired art and illustration, environmental history, or art history and appreciation, this is a unique exhibition not to be missed.
Stanley Meltzoff: The Great Game Fish
Stanley Meltzoff (1917-2006) is widely regarded as the preeminent fish painter of all time. He was born in New York, received a classical education in the arts, and was an art professor at the City College of New York, Pratt Institute and Harvard University. During WWII, Meltzoff was an artist for Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper, in Europe.
An avid skin and scuba diver throughout his life, Meltzoff dove all the seven seas to observe the world's great game fish and starting in 1949 added underwater photography.
He first combined his passions for the sea, photography and art in the early 1960's when he painted several series on various fish species for Sports Illustrated, National Geographic and Field & Stream.
Meltzoff's marine life themes are represented in more than 350 paintings of bonefish, marlin, rays and sharks, striped bass, swordfish and many other species. His art is featured in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Lee Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Genesee Country Museum, The J. Paul Getty Museum of Art, National Geographic Society, New Britain Museum of American Art, Princeton University, and numerous private collections. The Great Game Fish features some 30 of his most outstanding works.
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