Art: Plaster Critters

Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History put on a little show this week to make the weariest museum trudger smile: eight plaster statuettes of fabled animals. Among them were Pegasus sitting exhausted on a cloud, Leda tête-à-tête with a Donald-Duckish swan, Brer Rabbit battling the rude Tar Baby, Androcles nursing a huge, unhappy lion, and the elastic-nebbed elephant and tenacious crocodile of Kipling's Just So Stories. What the sculptures lacked in naturalism they more than made up for in naturalness.

Modeled ten years ago by Sculptor Paul Wright, they had never before been publicly...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!