Jörg Kühn (1940–1964) was a

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naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and scientific illustrator who specialized in bird paintings and drawings. He was also a

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. He is noted for illustrations that are of a particularly scientific and exact nature.

Biography

Kühn's reputation as a master of the exact portrayal of animals is based on a professional career that lasted barely six years during which he worked prolifically. The legacy is regarded as very valuableBirds of the World – Chapter on Great Bird Artists IPC magazines 1969 containing in excess of one hundred colour plates and several hundred line drawings and innumerable field studies of the animals he was illustrating. His depictive style has echoes of

Louis Agassiz Fuertes Louis Agassiz Fuertes (February 7, 1874 – August 22, 1927) was an American ornithologist, illustrator and artist who set the rigorous and current-day standards for ornithological art and naturalist depiction and is considered one of the most pr ...

He worked from 1961 to 1964 as a scientific illustrator at the Zoological Museum (Zoologische Museum der Universitat Zürich). His work which appeared in scientific publications including Pro Natura, ''Pro Juventute'',

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

, and ''Hallwag-Verlag'' are exact and beautifully drawn. He was also skilled in graphics and taught the skill at the Zoological Museum in Zürich. As well as scientific publications, he was sometimes employed as an illustrator of books including the children's book ''Der Wald Und Seine Tierre'' (''The Forest and its Animals'') (1963)Jorg Khun &

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, ''Der Wald Und Seine Tierre '' Atlantis-Verlag (Zurich 1972) where his illustrations included monographs of forest animals. It has run to at least five editions since it was first published in 1963.His colour plates include those of threatened wildlife that were commissioned by the

and contributions to the ''

Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas The ''Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas'' (''Handbook of the Birds of Central Europe'', ''HBV'') is a German-language scholarly handbook on the birds of Central Europe. For the purposes of the book, the Central European region is defined as the sta ...

'' (''Handbook of the Birds of Central Europe'').''Handbuch der Vogel Mitteleuropas''. Volume 14, Passeriformes. Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim (Ed.). 1997. AULA-Verlag GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany Although Jörg Kühn's is chiefly remembered as a wildlife illustrator he was also commissioned to illustrate a number of medical textbooks including for the ''Surgery of the Thyroid and Parathyroid Glands'' Kühn died in Zürich in October 1964 aged 24 from

Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...

diagnosed when he was 18 years of age.http://www.jagdportal.ch/jagdampnatur/news/news-einzelansicht/browse/8/article/7/die-tierwelt-101273.html Exhibition of in Kühn's work, Landshut Utrensdorf Castle, Zurich, April 2009

Selected solo exhibitions

* 2009 Landshut Utrenstorf Castle, Zürich – fifty works were shown

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhn, Jorg 20th-century Swiss painters 20th-century Swiss illustrators Swiss male painters Swiss scientific illustrators 1940 births 1964 deaths Swiss bird artists 20th-century Swiss male artists

Biography

Selected solo exhibitions

See also

References