Gone

Label

This print after a meticulously painted still life by Isabella Kirkland draws inspiration from luxuriant 17th-century Dutch still lifes and the longstanding tradition of artist-naturalists. Although depicted as if from life, the flora and fauna seen here no longer existed when Kirkland painted them. They consist of species that, owing to human interventions in the natural world, were already extinct by the mid-1930s. Among the 63 “gone” species featured, we see a passenger pigeon (top center, looking right), Carolina parakeet (below and to the right of the pigeon), and Tasmanian tiger (skull, lower left).

Are you aware of species that have declined or recovered in your own lifetime?

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

| These prints from Isabella Kirkland’s Taxa series examine various aspects of plant and animal conservation through the intersections of artmaking and science. Inspired by 17th-century Dutch still-life paintings and the tradition of artist-naturalists who worked to study and document the natural world, this series is a culmination of years of detail-driven research, which you can view in the print keys available here.

Humans collect wildlife for a range of reasons, including the scientific study of rare species, ownership, and acclaim. Collection highlights some of these examples. Back features species that once neared extinction but have since rebounded. Though humans often play a role in the decimation of species, intervention efforts such as habitat manipulation or species reintroduction can provide avenues for repair and regrowth. The species in Gone have all gone extinct since the mid-1800s. Human interactions with the environment that led to the degradation of natural habitats have irreversibly impacted plants, animals, and their entire ecosystems.

From the 2026 exhibition American Pop, curated by Jami Powell (Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs & Curator of Indigenous Art), Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow, Curatorial), and Beatriz Yanes Martinez (former Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow, Curatorial, 2021-2024)

Course History

REL 37, Animal Rights in Religion, Catherine Randall, Winter 2013

REL 37, Animal Rights in Religion, Catherine Randall, Winter 2014

COLT 49, Beasts on the Page, Paul Carranza, Spring 2014

WRIT 5, After Humans, Christian Haines, Winter 2015

SART 31/SART 72, Painting II/III, Jennifer Caine, Winter 2020

ANTH 50.17, Rites of Passage, Sienna Craig, Spring 2020

ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022

Public Policy 41.01, Writing & Speaking Public Policy, Julie Kalish, Spring 2024

Studio Art 27.01, Printmaking I, Abra Ancliffe, Spring 2024

Public Policy 41.01, Writing & Speaking Public Policy, Julie Kalish, Spring 2025

Exhibition History

American Pop, Churchill and Dorothy Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 13, 2025 - November 7, 2025.

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 5–April 11, 2022.

Provenance

Booklyn Artists Alliance, Brooklyn, New York; sold to present collection, 2011.

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Subjects