The Photographed Animal: Useful, Cute and Collected

Man beholds in the animal a part of himself and a proxy in his relation to the world; his art portrays them alternately as true friends, tools, dignified beings and monstrous beasts. There are innumerable occasions to photograph animals, for research and as trophies, to document the creatures one has grown fond of or has killed, to arouse emotions or to create a work of art. The Photographed Animal presents images from the medium's beginnings up to the present in a depth and variety never seen in one place before, each reflecting the circumstances in which it was made, whether a nineteenth century big-game hunt or a twenty-first century cat food commercial. This unique selection brings together work from the daguerreotype to modern publicity photographs, from amateur snapshots to the work of celebrated photographers including William Eggleston, Elliot Erwitt, Garry Winogrand and many others.