The American Museum of Natural History’s exhibition, Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids, opening Aug. 30 at the Museum at Prairiefire, traces the natural and cultural roots of some of the world’s most enduring mythological creatures from Asia, Europe, the Americas and beyond. For many centuries, humans around the world have brought these imaginary creatures to life in stories, music and works of art. Sometimes inspired by fossils or living animals, these creatures continue to delight us today.
Mythic Creatures, which runs through Feb. 1, 2015, features models and replicas of preserved specimens from the American Museum of Natural History and other museums’ collections, as well as cast fossils of prehistoric animals, to investigate how they could have, through misidentification, speculation, fear or imagination, inspired the development of some legendary creatures. For example, visitors will discover how narwhal tusks from the North Sea, introduced to continental Europe by Scandinavian traders, reinforced the centuries-old belief in the unicorn, and how dinosaur fossils uncovered by Scythian nomads may have been mistaken for the remains of living, breathing griffins. Persistent tales of undersea monsters may simply be sightings of real creatures such as the oarfish and giant squid, which are just as wondrous as any imaginary denizens of the deep.
The exhibition includes eye-popping models, paintings and textiles, along with other cultural objects from around the world, ranging from shadow puppets to Japanese armor that reveal the surprising similarities and differences in the ways people around the world have envisioned and depicted these strange and exciting creatures.
“Mythic Creatures shows how the natural world has fired the human imagination and inspired fear and fascination outside the boundaries of time,” said Uli Sailer Das, Executive Director of the Museum at Prairiefire. “The fantastic creatures displayed in the exhibition illuminate the enthralling similarities that are part of folklore and mythology in far-flung geographies and also highlight the cultural differences that affect how these beings are perceived. With content that is both enlightening and entertaining, Mythic Creatures appeals to all ages.”
The exhibition reveals the relationship between nature and legend throughout history, beginning with Pliny the Elder, who, in 77 c.e., asserted that mermaids were “no fabulous tale,” and continuing through the modern sightings of Scotland’s renowned, but unsubstantiated, Loch Ness Monster.
Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in collaboration with The Field Museum, Chicago; Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau-Ottawa; Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney; and Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta.
Exhibition highlights include a 120-foot-long Chinese parade dragon, used in New York City’s Chinatown to perform the traditional dragon dance at the Lunar New Year; a reproduction of a “Feejee mermaid,” of the type made famous by showman P. T. Barnum, created by sewing the head and torso of a monkey to the tail of a fish; and four tremendous, “life-size” models of mythical creatures: a 17-foot-long dragon with a wingspan of more than 19 feet; a 10-foot-long unicorn; an 11-foot-long Roc with large, sharp talons and a wingspan of nearly 20 feet swooping above visitors’ heads; and a kraken, whose 12-foot-long tentacles appear to rise out of the floor of the exhibition as if surfacing from the sea; plus two actual life-size models—a six-foot-tall, extinct primate called Gigantopithecus; and the largest bird ever to have lived, the more-than-nine-foot-tall, extinct Aepyornis.
Throughout the exhibition, numerous interactive stations invite visitors to touch casts of a narwhal tusk, the lower jaw of Gigantopithecus and a life-size reproduction of a Haast’s eagle (Harpagornis moorei) talon. Activities include rearranging scale models of mammoth bones to look like a giant human skeleton and Protoceratops bones to look like a griffin skeleton. Visitors can build their own dragons in an engaging touch-screen interactive and watch their creations virtually come alive before their eyes. Videos include interviews with experts discussing the significance of mythical creatures and their possible real-life counterparts. Other interviewees include Christopher Paolini, the young author of the best-selling books Eragon and Eldest; award-winning artist Takeshi Yamada, who creates “mythic creatures” today; and artists from motion-picture visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic (founded by George Lucas) demonstrating the process of creating dragons for popular movies.
Exhibition
Mythic Creatures is divided into an introduction and five sections:
The Introduction welcomes visitors into the exhibition, where they come face-to-face with a magnificent model of a 17-foot-long dragon.
Creatures of Water examines the kraken, sea monsters, mermaids, and other beings that inhabit the ocean depths.
Creatures of Land features beings purported to walk the Earth. Many of these creatures have body parts from ordinary animals combined in unusual ways.
Creatures of Air explores winged mythological creatures such as the Asian phoenix, a mythical bird that appears at times of peace or to announce the birth of a virtuous emperor, represented in a richly embroidered Chinese silk panel, and the Greek Sphinx, a terrible monster with a lion’s body, a woman’s head and a fondness for riddles, who guarded the gates to the ancient Greek city of Thebes.
ΒThe Dragons section rounds out the extensive examination of mythical creatures. These reptilian beasts with fabulous powers claim a mythic presence on at least three continents.
In the Conclusion, the focus turns to the meaning of mythic creatures today. They can be rooted in long-standing cultural tradition and can inform personal identity. Photographic portraits of people of all ages are accompanied by their intriguing quotes about mythic creatures in their lives.
Hours: The Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed on Christmas.
Admission: Tickets for Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids are available at www.museumatpf.org or at the Museum, 5801 W. 135th Street, Overland Park, Kansas, beginning in mid-August. Admission to the exhibition is $12 for adults (ages 13+) and $8 for children (ages three to 12). Admission to the Museum’s Great Hall is free, and admission to the Discovery Room children’s experience is $7 (ages three to 12).
For additional information, the public may call (913) 333-3500 or visit the Museum’s website at www.museumatpf.org.
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