Biography of Bob Kuhn Essay

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Bob Kuhn is renowned as one of the best artists due to his work in wildlife art unlike many artists. Kuhn's popularity is mainly attributed to the fact that his art is considered as having the capability to capture its viewers into the very midst of the secret place of nature and nearly into animals' minds. Actually, Bob Kuhn is one of the leading painters of wildfire or animals that are shown in dramatic action. He is unique and different from animal painters, especially modern painters of African and North American wildlife, due to his ability to catch the presence of animals in motion. His devotion to the work of drawing or painting was inspired by several exhibitions. Generally, his drawings were not only integral to his art but also acted as masterpieces of design, observation, and invention. In essence, Bob Kuhn's paintings served as the building blocks upon which paintings were developed.

Bob Kuhn's Early Life:

Bob Kuhn was born in 1920 in Buffalo, New York where he started his observations of animals in the Buffalo Zoo ("Bob Kuhn: Drawing on Instinct," 2014). The painter studied at Pratt Institute in New York and was usually fascinated by art and animals in the early years. Kuhn's fascination with animals and love for painting was evident when he was as young as five years when he was duplicating illustrations from favorite magazines. In addition, he usually carried a pencil and sketchpad during his frequent visits to the Buffalo Zoo. During his high school years, Bob Kuhn sent some of his sketches to Paul Branson, magazine illustrator. This helped him to solicit advice that contributed to encouraging words and a strong critique.

As previously mentioned, the painter studied at New York's Pratt Institute where he enrolled for a three-year course in commercial illustration. In 1940, which was his final year at the institute, he drove to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks where he saw bison, moose, and elk in the wild for the first time. Following his graduation in 1940, Kuhn started working as a freelance painter.

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During this period, he illustrated a wide range of pulp, fishing, and hunting magazines apart from children's books like Good Comrades and Felix Salten's A forest World. Kuhn then moved to Connecticut in 1945 and became an active commercial illustrator for a period of five years. As an active commercial illustrator, he usually made several contributions to Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, and Sports Afield in addition to working occasionally for True, Reader's Digest and Argosy. In the 1960s, Kuhn considered leaving illustration behind following a series of successful exhibitions though he started illustrating Remington Firearms' calendar in 1964. Notably, Bob Kuhn devoted himself to the practice of drawing, particularly painting wildlife until his death in 2007.

Kuhn's Paintings and Achievements:

Bob Kuhn made significant contributions and achievements to an extent that he is considered as a wildlife painter without peer. This is primarily because his work represents the best of wildlife art because of the ability of these drawings to take viewers nearly into animals' minds and the centre of nature's secret places ("Bob Kuhn Biography," n.d.). He has been described by Wildlife Art as one of the latest direct offspring of Golden Age of Illustration. This age is a period that generated the most competent multitude of realist painters in contemporary world and the continent.

While Kuhn stated that he did not know why he painted animals, he argued that his passion for Wildfire Art started when he was a young boy when animals captivated and fascinated him beyond imagination. This passion originates from a belief that there is something special about animals since he was young. Therefore, his paintings or drawing were usually fueled by a passion for animals that made him to visit Buffalo Zoo frequently. He derived the fun of painting from being the stage manager, the organizer and the individual who would enhance the mood of people through his drawings. Paul Branson who is commonly as the dean of animal artists played a crucial role in Kuhn's life and painting career by influencing most of his drawings as part.....

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