​J. N. BARTFIELD GALLERIES

 

 

Carl Akeley 1864-1926

 

 

A brilliant taxidermist and photographer, Carl Ethan Akeley was also a highly skilled sculptor. His bronze groups of animals are displayed throughout the American Museum of Natural History in New York where he was an Associate Curator in the Preparation and Mammology departments, coming into contact with Theodore Roosevelt and other early naturalists. In 1921, Akeley traveled to the Virunga Mountains in the Belgian Congo to collect gorilla specimens for a diorama. When he killed the first gorilla, he looked into the creature’s eyes and saw its kinship to humanity; thereafter, he helped the Belgian government to create a permanent mountain gorilla sanctuary. He also became a key figure in establishing the Albert National Park in Canada in 1925. He and his wife Mary wrote a number of enormously popular books of his travels.