There always seems to be confusion surrounding the definition of wildlife art; it all to often treated as a genre or a movement, but that is incorrect, it is not like impressionism, conceptual art, abstract art or any of the other movements that have come and gone over the centuries. The style of any of those movements can be used to depict wildlife, but wildlife is the subject not the style.
Dr Adam Harris’s definition in his book ‘Wildlife in American Art’ is, I think, perfect ‘Art related to Wildlife’. To put it simply any piece of art depicting wildlife is wildlife art; thus Andy Warhol’s Endangered Species series is wildlife art but the art movement he was involved in was Pop Art; Damien Hirst’s shark in formaldehyde is also wildlife art and the movement or genre is Conceptual Art. Both Bob Kuhn and Robert Bateman are influenced by abstract art and that can be seen in many of their wildlife art paintings, indeed, the latter was an abstract painter before he changed his subject matter to the natural world.
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