BEAUTY IN THE BEAST

A collection of paintings centers on endangered animals.

During World War II, Ralph Burke Tyree was deployed to Samoa, an island in the South Pacific, and he became enchanted with its “idyllic beauty.” In fact, he loved it so much he moved his family there for years, later taking up residence on Guam and Hawaii (Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island). Beginning in the late 1960s, he turned his attention to flora, especially passion flowers, magnolias, and hibiscuses. In the last 10 years of his life—he died in 1979—his preoccupation was the depiction of animals, “celebrating creatures big and small, common and endangered, and local and foreign.” His principal focus was endangered or threatened animal populations—he made a concerted effort not just to capture their feral beauty, but also to raise public awareness about their vulnerability. Cook and Paige Herbert (the artist’s granddaughter) reproduce in this gorgeous assemblage of vividly colored works dozens of Tyree’s paintings from the last decade of his life. The authors include an edifying running commentary that not only discusses the paintings themselves and Tyree’s evolving artistic techniques, but also the animals depicted and the extent to which their populations are imperiled. And while Tyree’s stunning portrayals of animals are the book’s primary emphasis, the authors feature an impressive variety of works beyond that category, including portraits of people and depictions of plants and flowers. The heart of the volume is the paintings themselves, which are startlingly vibrant—saturated colors take on a striking depth and texture when Tyree paints with oil on French silk black velvet. A foreword is contributed by the artist’s daughter, Marda Tyree Herbert, who furnishes a loving tribute to her father’s devotion to his work and his “creative genius.” The authors’ mastery of the subject is magisterial—this book is a remarkable feat of artistic scholarship. For those who are already familiar with Tyree’s massive body of work as well as those who have never heard of him, this volume is a visually arresting portal into his mature paintings.

A beautiful art book filled with rigorously researched commentary.