Edward J. Bierly; wildlife artist (very good)
Hyfler/Rosner
The Washington Post
June 9, 2004 Wednesday
Final Edition
Edward J. Bierly, 84;
Painter Of Wildlife
BYLINE: Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb, Washington Post Staff Writer
http://www.brookmanstamps.com/Netcat/federal/rw37info.htm
http://look.net/ejb/eagle.html
http://www.mcbridegallery.com/bierly/bierly_more.html
Edward J. Bierly, 84, whose internationally recognized oil
and watercolor paintings capture the repose and motion of
lions, eagles, leopards, elephants, geese and elk, died of
cancer May 24 at his home in Lorton.
Mr. Bierly's paintings of African and American wildlife have
been widely exhibited in museums and featured on the covers
of magazines. He was a three-time winner of the Federal Duck
Stamp design competition who, unlike many wildlife artists,
did not specialize in one species.
Mr. Bierly wrote that painting animals is an ancient,
irresistible urge -- one that gave him pleasure:
"I have a strong sympathetic relationship with my animals
and I try to feel what they feel, to become in my own mind a
resting lion or an alert impala. To paint a deer in a snowy
woods you must recall the cold stillness, and feel it again.
To do a dozing lion you must remember the savannah grass on
your back and the tropical sun on your face. If you do it
right the viewers feel it too."
His paintings have been exhibited at the Royal Ontario
Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Audubon
Society, the American Museum of Natural History in New York
and the National Wildlife Federation in Washington.
His drawings of armadillos, anteaters and the three-fingered
sloth appear in Bernhard Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia,
the largest and most authoritative compendium of animal
science. He illustrated several books, including "The
Mammals of Rhodesia, Zambia and Malawi," a field guide.
Such magazines as National Wildlife, International Wildlife,
Reader's Digest and the Arts Magazine have reproduced his
paintings. Prints of his painting of Mohini, the National
Zoo's white tigress, helped raise money for a field study of
the Bengal tiger.
Edward Joseph Bierly was born in Buffalo and grew up
exploring the creeks and woods of the nearby countryside.
His art education at Pratt Institute in New York was
interrupted by four years of service in World War II. While
in Europe, during two of his four years as a first
lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers, he worked in the
camouflage branch, helping to hide military camps from
aerial view and building phony military camps to confuse the
enemy.
In 1949, he received a bachelor's degree in fine arts from
the University of Buffalo and went to New York, where he
began his apprenticeship in the commercial art world as an
illustrator.
He was called to serve in the Korean War for 18 months at
Fort Belvoir, beginning in 1951. When he was discharged, he
became an illustrator and designer of exhibits for the
National Park Service.
Over the next 14 years, he observed grizzlies in Yellowstone
National Park, mountain goats in Glacier National Park,
alligators, pumas and manatees in the Everglades. He used
the experience to depict various animals in their native
habitats.
In 1956, his black-and-white watercolor of the American
mergansers (now known as common mergansers) won the
competition for the Federal Duck Stamp design, having been
the second-place winner on his first try in 1955. He went on
to win this prestigious competition again in 1963, with a
black-and-white watercolor of the brant, and 1970, with a
watercolor of Ross's geese.
A pivotal point in Mr. Bierly's art career came in the early
1960s when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization asked him to help with the design of
three new museums in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and the
planning of its natural history exhibits.
During his trips to Africa in 1962 and 1964, he spent time
in Wankie National Park, one of Africa's largest elephant
sanctuaries and home to buffalo, zebras and giraffes.
"As many have said before, you are never the same after
seeing Africa," Mr. Bierly wrote of the experience, which he
said "turned me to serious easel painting."
He also left Africa concerned about the uncertain state of
game animals throughout the continent and became determined
to use his art in the cause of conservation.
After returning home, he captured on canvas scenes vivid in
his memory, and in 1968, he had a one-man show at
Abercrombie & Fitch in New York.
In 1970, he left the National Park Service and devoted his
time to painting African and American wildlife.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Edith "Edie" Bierly
of Lorton; four children, Edward Bierly of Morristown, N.J.,
Peter Bierly of Kauai, Hawaii, Elizabeth Bierly of Lorton
and Bridget "Nelli" Bierly of Fairfield, Va.; and four
grandchildren.