What Goes Into a Natural History Diorama? A Closer Look in Andes

Have you ever stood in front of a natural history museum diorama and wondered how it was made? The landscapes, plants and animals can seem like a window into another place and time, but behind those familiar exhibits is a painstaking combination of art, science and fieldwork—and a team of people who traveled into the field to recreate the natural world for museum visitors.

On Saturday, the Institute for Natural History Arts will host Field Days at its Catskill Biological Field Station in Andes. The event will offer participants a behind-the-scenes look at the techniques used by scientists and artists during historic museum expeditions, including field research, specimen collection, botanical art, diorama design, and taxidermy.

George Dante, founder and president of the Institute for Natural History Arts, said the organization grew out of his work building and restoring natural history museum exhibits.

“I realized that more and more, there was a disconnect between the public and even museum professionals and how and to the people who built these exhibits,” Dante said.

Dioramas, he said, represent a marriage of art and science. At institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History in New York, exhibits were designed to recreate specific times and places, often through elaborate expeditions.

Teams could include background painters, foreground artists, taxidermists and scientists specializing in birds, mammals or reptiles. Artists collected plants, soil and rocks, while scientists collected specimens for research and exhibits.

Even painting the background required scientific precision, Dante said. Artists had to work at the same time of day to accurately capture the light and landscape.

Dante said the materials used to create details in the exhibits can be just as surprising. Leaves in some dioramas, for example, were handmade from paper and beeswax.

Those exhibits can also serve as historical records. Because a diorama captures a particular place at a particular point in time, Dante said researchers can use older exhibits to examine how landscapes and ecosystems have changed, including changes associated with human activity and climate change.

Dante’s specialty is museum taxidermy, which he describes as a combination of sculpture, art and science.

“The science comes in where we need to know the behavior of that animal,” he said, including how it moves and behaves in its surroundings. Museum taxidermists also work with curators and scientists to ensure anatomical accuracy.

Saturday’s Field Days event is sold out. Dante said the Institute hopes to make it an annual event and plans to offer additional programs throughout the year, including hands-on activities and lectures.

For Dante, the work remains connected to a childhood fascination with natural history museums. Growing up in New Jersey, he said visiting the American Museum of Natural History gave him a chance to experience landscapes and places he had never imagined visiting.

“Being there took me to those places,” he said.

Image: George Dante, a taxidermist, has spent years working on restoring historic dioramas at natural history museums. (George Dante Studios)