HANS PEETERS Hans Peeters is best known for his paintings of birds, particularly birds of prey. He has two distinct styles, but most of his work is of representational wildlife painted in acrylics, a detail-friendly medium that allows an emphasis both on the scientific accuracy of his subjects and their individuality. What he calls his looser "ecological core" paintings in oil or acrylic, by contrast, do not always contain animals, nor do they define a species; they are about color, light, and pattern in the natural world and have appeared in the magazine of elegant interiors, Architectural Digest. Raised in Germany and immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 16, he had early interest in nature, which eventually led him to earn a Master's Degree in Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley and a job teaching biology at Chabot College, Hayward, California. While a student, he worked as a scientific illustrator with the Department of Agriculture at Berkeley, but he didn't start painting seriously until the early 1970's. By the 80's he was splitting his time evenly between science and art, merging the two as much as possible.
He has acted as both
artist and scientific consultant for a popular bird field
guide; and as co-author and illustrator of a book on
California mammals (University of California Press), rather
than paint each species in the typical field guide profile,
he chose poses that indicate something about the behavior of
the animals. His long-term scientific study of Golden Eagles
has In Panama, his commissioned painting of a Harpy Eagle is part of an educational program to preserve that species. Like many who come from the frigid north, he is drawn to tropical climes, traveling extensively in Africa, India, Latin America, and Australia. His Indian travels led to a commission to paint color plates of Indian birds for the Smithsonian Institution. An article about him appeared in Wildlife Art Magazine, May/June, 1987. His paintings appear in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Birds in Art catalogs of 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993 and The National Parks Foundation "Arts for the Parks" art show catalogs of 1989, 1991, and 1993. They can also be found in the pages of Architectural Digest, May 1982, March 1983, and November 1983.
Permanent Collections: |
Russell Fink Gallery |