Carl Akeley's 'lost' decorative taxidermy and anthropomorphic groups: The European connection.

This article focuses on newly uncovered details of Carl Akeley's early career as a taxidermist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, highlighting his production of decorative taxidermy and anthropomorphic "grotesque groups" before his renowned museum work. It situates Akeley's early decorative pieces within the broader late nineteenth-century American taxidermy trend influenced by European artists such as Hermann Ploucquet and Walter Potter, who popularized whimsical animal tableaux. The article contrasts Akeley's youthful commercial and artistic experiments with his later pioneering scientific habitat dioramas, emphasizing how his early decorative work contributed to his development as an innovative taxidermist. It also explores the tension between ornamental and scientific taxidermy in the United States during this period and underscores the European artistic influence on American taxidermy practices.