In On the Origin of Species and elsewhere, Darwin explained the subtle interplay among all living things, the study of which would come to be known as ecology. This was central to the evolutionary process. Plants and animals adapted to their changing situations. Through natural selection, they developed features which helped them in the 'struggle for survival' and ultimately gave rise to new species.
Darwin’s insights led on to much new research in the later nineteenth century. In 1876, Alfred Russel Wallace published a major work, The Geographical Distribution of Animals. He urged the curators of natural history museums to design exhibits such as dioramas that would show the intricate relations between life forms in each region. He and other 'Darwinians' were especially fascinated by the causes of colour in nature, which Darwin had discussed both in On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man. Certain colours and markings camouflaged animals within their habitat, concealing them from predators or from their intended prey.
This new ecological awareness inspired several late nineteenth-century artists, notably the Swedish painter Bruno Liljefors and the American Abbott Thayer. Both were fascinated by a particular aspect of Darwinian ecology: the ways in which animals blend with their setting, producing near abstract effects of colour and pattern.
The Mating of the Capercailzies, 1888
Oil on canvas
In The Descent of Man (1871) Darwin discussed the mating rituals of many birds as examples of 'sexual selection.' He quoted a book on the game birds of Scandinavia, which described the strange 'lek' of the Capercailzie, during which the male bird called to the females with undulating movements that expressed 'an agony of passion.'
Bruno Liljefors’s painting of this subject was inspired by Darwinian ideas, but also by a romantic feeling for Nordic scenery. He evokes the mysterious life of animals in nature; they blend perfectly into the landscape of pine forests, lichens, and boulders. The improvised technique and unconventional composition reflect the fact that it was largely painted out of doors at early dawn, and we seem to be spying on the bird’s ritual. As Darwin showed, the cock bird’s preoccupation with its mating display often made it unaware of danger. The sexual urge was even stronger than the instinct of self-preservation.
Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden
Four Bird Studies: Red-backed Shrike, Corncrake, Chaffinch, Willow Warbler, 1887
Oil on canvas and panel
This decorative assembly of bird paintings with its fluid technique, flattened space, and broad, flat gold frame, strongly suggests the influence of Chinese and Japanese scroll and screen paintings, as well as of Japanese prints. Yet Liljefors also echoes the view of nature that Darwin had expressed in On the Origin of Species: 'We behold the face of nature bright with gladness,' and forget that the birds 'idly singing round us' are involved in a ceaseless struggle for existence. Here the corncrake scuttles through the long meadow grass to escape observation, while the red-backed shrike pursues a butterfly, which it will impale on a thorn.
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Copperhead Snake on Dead Leaves, 1903 (Study for plate xi in Concealing-Colouration, 1909)
Watercolour on cardboard, mounted on wood panel
In Abbott Thayer’s view, predatory species rely on camouflage just as much as the animals they prey on: their markings conceal their presence from intended victims. Thayer illustrated his ideas in Concealing-Coloration through this puzzle-picture of a copperhead snake lurking among fallen leaves, one of nature’s 'beautiful and terribly effective ground-picturing patterns.' The illustration is provided with a cardboard overlay, with the shape of the snake cut out like a stencil. With this help, it is possible to see the snake, which is otherwise virtually invisible—as it would be in real life.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Gift of the Heirs of Abbott Handerson Thayer
Male Wood Duck in a Forest Pool, c. 1905–09
Oil on canvas
This painting is a study for an illustration in Thayer’s book Concealing-Coloration (1909). It was painted from a stuffed specimen, 'the background copied, colour-note for colour-note, from the bird himself.' Thayer wanted to prove that the wood duck’s plumage, with its patches and stripes of contrasted colour, was itself a 'bright and beautiful system of water-pictures.' He claimed that these markings broke up its shape, and made it blend into ripples, waterlilies, trees, and sky. These beautiful markings were wholly due to natural selection, he believed, and their prime purpose was protective: 'Patterns of animals are like scars of ordeals, recording what their wearers have been through.'
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Gift of the Heirs of Abbott Handerson Thayer