Alan has been painting for over 50 years. In that time, he has captured thousands of images of wildlife from around the world. He has travelled extensively on field trips to destinations such as Madagascar, Alaska, Peru and Antarctica – to name just a few! Alan is a native of the North of England and has studied the fauna of Yorkshire. For the last five years, he has been living in France and has enjoyed getting to know the birds of the mid and southern regions and learning their migratory routes over his backyard. He began painting at the age of eight...
Alan has been painting for over 50 years. In that time, he has captured thousands of images of wildlife from around the world. He has travelled extensively on field trips to destinations such as Madagascar, Alaska, Peru and Antarctica – to name just a few! Alan is a native of the North of England and has studied the fauna of Yorkshire. For the last five years, he has been living in France and has enjoyed getting to know the birds of the mid and southern regions and learning their migratory routes over his backyard.
Alan is best known for the diversity of his subject matter. He began painting at the age of eight when his mother gave him a box of paints to occupy him as he recuperated from an illness. His fascination with birds provided excellent material for his first paintings. But he soon moved on to capture the natural world around him on canvas. His paintings of garden birds soon developed into raptors (birds of prey) and then on to mammals of all shapes and sizes.
Alan’s motivation has always been to conserve the world’s wildlife for future generations. Through his art, his mission is to impart some of the love, experience and concern for these animals and to protect the environment and wildlife we share this planet with. Painting the big cats of Africa and Asia has enabled significant fundraising efforts for numerous trusts across these regions.
First studying art at Middlesbrough Art College, Alan then decided to study Zoology at Leeds College and Bristol University. His first solo exhibition at age 18 was held in his home town of Redcar, England. Since then his original paintings have been shown in museums, galleries and public and private collections worldwide. Alan has received international acclaim, winning The Society of Animal Artists’ (USA) Award of Excellence on four occasions and The Wildlife Art Society’s UK Best Artist on Show for three consecutive years. Alan has been the lead artist at five exhibitions in the US and in 1998 was the first non-American to be voted on to the American Wildlife Art Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was chosen as Artist of the Year for the Florida Wildlife Art Expo. Alan’s work has also attracted huge interest at major international auctions including Sotheby’s, Bonham’s and Christie’s and continues to captivate collectors across the World.
In recent years, Alan has stepped away from the exhibition spotlight to explore and develop his style with a particular emphasis on capturing texture, depth and richness. His experiments have yielded feathers, fur and satin of unparalleled realism.
Alan is married to the equestrian artist Judi Kent Pyrah, with whom he has a son, Guy. His step-son Zach Mendelsohn has created an online presence and co-ordinated international exhibitions for Alan during his time in France.
Like Norman Rockwell, Seuss personally created every rough sketch, preliminary drawing, final line drawing and finished work for each page of every project he illustrated. Despite the technical and budgetary limitations of color printing during the early and mid-twentieth century, Dr. Seuss the artist was meticulous about color selection. He created specially numbered color charts and elaborate color call-outs to precisely accomplish his vision for each book. Saturated reds and blues, for example, were carefully chosen for The Cat in the Hat to attract and maintain the visual attention of a six-year-old audience. By the time Seuss’s book career took off, sharp draftsman skills were evident in drawings. His ability to move a storyline ahead via illustrations filled with tension, movement and color became a hallmark component of his work, and the surreal images that unfolded over six decades became the catalyst for a humorous and inspired learning experience.
Artist Leo Rijn, the inaugural sculptor for the Dr. Seuss Tribute Collection I, was selected to launch this project due to his prized work with some of today’s top talent in the world of film, entertainment and the visual arts (including Tim Burton, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg). Rijn has been identified as one of today’s brightest sculpting talents because of his ability to breathe life into the written word and successfully transform two-dimensional ideas into three-dimensional works of art. Universal Studios commissioned Leo to develop and oversee the creation of numerous maquette scale models for the Monumental Dr. Seuss Sculptures at Seuss Landing in Orlando, Florida. Leo was instrumental in the art direction for many of the sculpted characters and buildings now on display at this permanent Seuss attraction. His strikingly accurate Seuss works embody a masterful and intuitive Seussian sensibility, establishing him as a leading talent in interpretive sculpting.
Seuss embarked on an ingenious project in the early 1930s as he evolved from two-dimensional artworks to three-dimensional sculptures. What was most unusual for these mixed-media sculptures was the use of real animal parts including beaks, antlers and horns from deceased Forest Park Zoo animals where Seuss’s father was superintendent. Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy was born in a cramped New York apartment and included a menagerie of inventive creatures with names like the “Two Horned Drouberhannis,” “Andulovian Grackler,” and “Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn.” Shortly after Seuss created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on Unheard-Of Animals.” To this day, Seuss’s Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multi-dimensional creativity.
Illustrator by day, surrealist by night, Seuss created a body of irrepressible work that redefines this American icon as an iconographic American artist. Yet, the Secret Art often shows a side of the artist that most readers, familiar with him through his classic children’s books, have never seen. This collection, created over a period of more than 60 years, encompasses the entirety of Seuss’s multi-dimensional talent. The artistic golden thread highlighted throughout this collection is apparent in each wildly imaginative and surreal Secret Art image. The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss is an inimitable collection of artworks created at night for his own personal enjoyment. These works were rarely, if ever, exhibited during his lifetime and provide a deeper glimpse into the art and life of this celebrated American Icon.
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