Charles Knight died while I was still a young boy, leaving behind a series of paintings of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures which sustained me through my childhood (even my "dino-toys" aped Knight's reconstructions), but then something terrible happened. For almost 30 years, dinosaur art stagnated, with endless recyclings and reworkings of Knight's depictions, getting ever cruder and falling ever further behind the evolving dinosaur science. Then, in 1986, Dr. Robert Bakker, in "The Dinosaur Heresies", brought modern dinosaur science into the mainstream and, with it, he inspired a whole new generation of "paleo-artists" to pick up the cudgel (or brush or pen or computer stylus) and to start illustrating these new ideas, new interpretations, and the multitudinous new finds coming out of such previously ignored places as South America and China. This book reflects a compendium of select works from 9 of the "second generation" of the artists thus inspired, plus the work of Gregory Paul, who, if he is the least "artistic" of the group, is probably one of the most influential of this new wave of "dino-drawers". Almost all of the artists showcased acknowledge Bakker as their inspiration and Paul as their mentor, tho' their work differs extraordinarily in both technique and result, from the utterly "photo-realistic" (such as the works of Julius Csotonyi and Luis Rey) to the almost Japanese brushwork illustrations of artists such as John Conway. None of the artist's works are a disappointment and all are utterly compelling and intriguing, with an excellent (if necessarily limited) selection of works from each of the featured artists, all beautifully presented on high quality paper stock and in full color. Be aware, however, that this is NOT a book about ancient animals. It is a book about art, with the text, in each case, consisting of an interview with the featured artist, which only tangentially touches on the subject matter. As an art book, however, it succeeds brilliantly. Seeing the utter revolution in the depiction of extinct animals which has followed in the wake of Bakker's book (helped, in many cases, by evolving technology, including, particularly, the various means of creating "digital art"), one almost feels like Cosimo de Medici, watching as the new thinking and new techniques of the Renaissance displace the tired conventions of Medieval artwork and its increasingly degraded reiteration of Byzantine artistic conventions. If I have any bone to pick with the book (aside from the short shrift given to the animals depicted and the lack of much discussion of them) it is the exclusion of what really was the "first wave" of this paleo-art revival in favor of the "enfant terribles" who followed them. Where are the Czerkas brothers? Where is John Gurche (whose work provided the cover art for Bakker's book)? Where are David Peters and Mark Hallet? Leaving those artists out (esp. Gurche and the Czerkas) is like writing a book about the Renaissance without discussing Fra Angelico and Giotto or the Dutch oil painters, such as Van Eyck. All the artists featured deserved to be featured, but one wishes that, perhaps, a few more might have been tapped for inclusion. It is a relatively piddling gripe, however, and the book is a delight whether the interest is art or dinosaurs, the type of book one can visit and revisit over and over again without satiation. Well worth the price.
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