Visions of Lost Worlds: The Paleoart of Jay Matternes

Visions of Lost Worlds is a digital PDF about the paleoart of Jay Matternes. This digital edition is available as an instant download after purchase.

Edited by Matthew T. Carrano and Kirk R. Johnson, the book presents murals, dioramas, sketches, and drawings associated with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

It offers a detailed visual record of prehistoric environments and the artistic process behind their reconstruction.

Book Overview

This art and paleontology volume focuses on Jay Matternes’s work for the fossil halls of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. His six immense murals document mammal evolution across the Cenozoic Era, while three dioramas show environments from the Mesozoic Era.

The book covers environments from the Late Pleistocene, Late Pliocene, Miocene, Oligocene, Eocene, and Mesozoic periods. It also includes preparatory sketches and drawings that reveal how the murals and dioramas were developed.

Its scope includes paleoart, Mesozoic paleontology, dinosaurs in art, mammals in art, vertebrate paleontology, and paleoecology.

What You’ll Discover Inside

• Six murals portraying mammal evolution across the past 50 million years.
• Environments including the Alaskan mammoth steppe, Idaho riverbank, Great Plains grassland, Nebraska savannah, Rocky Mountain floodplain, and Wyoming rainforest.
• Three Mesozoic dioramas covering the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic, Late Jurassic, and Late Cretaceous.
• Detailed views of Matternes’s murals, including animal and environmental details.
• Preparatory sketches, drawings, notes, and studies from the artist’s working process.
• References, suggested reading, an index, acknowledgments, and photography credits.

Why This Book Matters

Matternes’s murals and dioramas were viewed by tens of millions of visitors at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. They influenced generations of paleontologists and paleoartists.

The works also provide a record of midcentury American paleontology and its interpretation of ancient animals and ecosystems. After the fossil halls were renovated, the murals and dioramas were conserved and archived in the museum’s permanent collections.

Book Details

Device Compatibility

This is a digital download, so no physical copy will be shipped. Access is available after purchase.

The PDF works with appropriate Kindle apps, tablets, desktop computers, mobile devices, and compatible reading apps. Printing is not promised.

FAQ

When can I access the digital book?
Access is available after purchase, with instant download provided for the PDF file.

Will I receive a physical copy?
No. This product is a digital download and does not include physical shipping.

Which devices support the PDF?
You can use appropriate Kindle apps, tablets, desktop computers, mobile devices, and compatible reading apps.

Download this digital edition to explore Jay Matternes’s Smithsonian paleoart and its supporting sketches and documentation.

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