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For the Love of Canines

October 22, 2022 - August 27, 2023

Exhibition open October 22, 2022 – August 27, 2023

Wild canines, including foxes, coyotes, and wolves, have held significant social and cultural meaning to humans worldwide throughout history. However, there are conflicted emotional opinions regarding these familiar predators.  Foxes, for example, while prized for their beauty and their cunningness, are despised for preying on smaller livestock and poultry, such as chickens and ducks. Coyotes, a canine species native to North America, nearly brought to extinction during western settlement, are also part of some Native cultures’ cosmologies. Sometimes considered a creator, Coyote might also be wicked or a buffoon. Of all wild canines, wolves have perhaps caused the most dread historically. Feared by ancient farmers to present day ranchers, wolves that at times prey on sheep, cattle, and other domestic animals, have also been known to kill humans. Alternatively, the famous Etruscan sculpture of La Lupa Capitolina (The Capitoline Wolf) from the fifth century BCE depicts a she-wolf caring for twins, Romulus and Remus, who founded city of Rome. Still, the one thing that all wild canines have common is a genetic relation to our own much beloved domestic dogs.

For the Love of Canines questions humans’ relation and fascination with canines, whether love or loathing, through works of art from NMWA’s permanent collection.

Carl Rungius (Germany, 1869 – 1959), Red Fox, 1933. Oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches. Jackson Hole Preserve, National Museum of Wildlife Art. © Estate of Carl Rungius.
Ken Carlson (United States, b. 1937), Wolf, 1988. Oil on board. 23 x 35 inches. JKM Collection®, National Museum of Wildlife Art. © Ken Carlson.
George Catlin (United States, 1796 – 1872), Buffalo Hunt, White Wolves Attacking, 1848. Hand-colored lithograph. 12 x 17 3/4 inches. JKM Collection®, National Museum of Wildlife Art.
Robert Bateman (Canada, b. 1930), Mesa Verde – Coyote, 2004. Acrylic on panel. 24 x 36 inches. JKM Collection®, National Museum of Wildlife Art. © Robert Bateman.
William Gollings (United States, 1878 – 1932), The Call, 1910. Oil on canvas. 14 ½ x 10 ½ inches. JKM Collection®, National Museum of Wildlife Art.
Frank Tenney Johnson (United States, 1874 – 1939), Coyote Moonrise, c. 1920. Oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches. JKM Collection®, National Museum of Wildlife Art.
Robert F. Kuhn (United States, 1920 – 2007), Sly Fox, 1990. Acrylic on board. 8 x 14 inches. Gift of Eliza and Tom Chrystie, National Museum of Wildlife Art Collection. © Estate of Robert F. Kuhn.
Terrance Guardipee (Blackfeet, b.1968), Black Wolf Society, 2020. Oil stick on antique ledger paper. 19 x 36 inches. Gift of the 2020 Blacktail Gala, National Museum of Wildlife Art. © Terrance Guardipee.
Alfred Wierusz Kowalski (Poland, 1849 - 1915), A Pack of Wolves, n.d.. Oil on canvas. 36 1/2 x 48 5/8 inches. On Loan from William G. Kerr, National Museum of Wildlife Art.
Robert F. Kuhn (United States, 1920 – 2007), Desert Harmony. Acrylic on board. 16 x 32 inches. Gift of John and Saralynn Geraghty and the RSGBK Foundation, JKM Collection®, National Museum of Wildlife Art Collection. © Estate of Robert F. Kuhn.
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State of the Art: Student Art Show in Honor of Marion Buchenroth

Through May 4, 2025

This youth art exhibit is an annual collaboration between the National Museum of Wildlife Art and art educators from Teton County schools. The several hundred works of art on display beautifully demonstrate how students grow as artists as they move through grades K-12.

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Tony Foster: Watercolour Diaries from the Green River

Through May 4, 2025

Artist Tony Foster became fascinated with the 50-million-year-old Green River fossilized fish when he first saw them in 1985. It was from these small special objects that he comprised the idea to make a group of artworks about the Green River. He began his project in 2018, creating a major painting of Steamboat Rock and the horseshoe bend from his vantage point up a 400 foot cliff. In the summer of 2019 he took a rafting trip from the Gates of Lodore to Split Rock, creating five smaller paintings en route. From these initial works he created this exhibition about, in Foster’s words: “this magnificent river.”

See the Exhibit
What People Are Saying
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"Phenomenal gallery! Exquisitely curated! Must-see highlight of our trip. P.S. Lunch was also delicious!"
— Jen R.
"Amazing collection of art. This is truly a special place!"
— David L.
"Absolutely incredible! We will be back!"
— Sebastian D.
"Love the variety of art, the historic documentation, and how attitudes changed and developed about wilderness and wildlife. Plus, wonderful interactive areas!"
— Bill S.
"Lunch was fab - the trout po' boy and lettuce wraps, wow!"
— Pamela Ann S.
"This is one of my happy places. I stop here every time I'm in Jackson."
— Monica M.
"Best food in town and 5-star service! We'll be coming back again! "
— Anna T.
"Not only was the museum interesting, the all gender bathroom was great. Thank you for thinking about LGBTQ and disabled people!"
— Bishnu A.