Zoo was a happy accident at the library, harbored between art books I was scanning for good tutorials. This art book though is short in height and stout in with, and a condensed animal art museum. Close to half of the pieces come from European Christian art through the ages and the other half are modern. Occasionally Chinese and Muslim creations appear. In addition, sculptures are also rare and one of my main complaints--I'm sure there's a lot of neat three dimensional animal art out there, namely in classical times. Still, it's fun to read the chapter introductions, the piece descriptions, and study the visuals. Chapters zoom from one human-animal dynamic to the next: the jungle, entertainment, aquatics, mythical beasts, the geographic poles, Noah's arc, farms, insects, and many more. Some of the insect pieces were incredible, probably in part because they included plants and were more realistic--I'm not keen on the blocky forms that have been popular historically. Overall this was a pleasant find. ( )

Focusing on animals in formal art... ( )