Hide Trade, Walton Ford

Archive Label 2003 (version 1):
The quagga, depicted here, was a subspecies of zebra that flourished in South Africa until European colonists hunted it to extinction in the 19th century. The last quagga died in an Amsterdam zoo in 1883. Several specimens exist in natural history museums in Europe and Africa.

Walton Ford has depicted the quagga in imitation of a 19th-century naturalist’s drawing (including adding the marks of age to the paper). His style recalls the renowned bird and animal illustrator John James Audubon. Ford annotates his image with various texts: a South African fable relating to the history of the Khoisan peoples, an apparently European description of the quagga and its hunt, a timeline of incidents of contact between Europeans and South Africa, and a subtitle referring to Kimberly, site of the first diamond mine in South Africa, discovered in 1869.

Archive Label 2003 (version 2):
The quagga, depicted in this immense watercolor, was a subspecies of zebra that flourished in South Africa until European colonists hunted it to extinction in the 19th century. The last quagga died in an Amsterdam zoo in 1883. Several specimens exist in European and African natural history museums.

Walton Ford here self-consciously imitates a 19th-century naturalist’s drawing and embellishes it with “age marks.” This style recalls the renowned bird and animal illustrator John James Audubon. Ford has annotated his finely rendered quagga with various texts: a South African fable relating to the history of the Khoisan peoples, what appears to be a European description of the quagga and its hunt, a timeline of European contacts with South Africa, and a subtitle referring to Kimberly, site of the first South African diamond mine, discovered in 1869.