GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Survival of the Fittest captures the clarity and heat of the West Texas landscape as well as the precarious existence of its inhabitants. In this meticulously detailed scene, a roadrunner and a snake face off in a climate beset by death and heat. Their combat amid a broken skull and parched cacti, seen in a close-up view, offers an abridged version of the precariousness of desert life. In a face-off with the snake, the roadrunner has momentarily forgotten its prey, the grasshopper, who may be the ultimate survivor in that harsh environment.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection," (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 274.
- DMA Label copy (1944.13), n.d.
NOTES
This note was started by Erin Pinon, summer 2016 and saved as #incomplete. EAS will submit this #draft after reviewing the associated objects/files.
Object file reviewed.
TMS record reviewed.
No education file found for Darge.
Several photocopies of clippings are in the object file but are not entered in the TMS object record, bibliography text field or bibliography module.
No additional information on the donor.
Placed full cat entry from 2012 DMA Guide in text entries.
Added text entries for existing labels-- all of which appeared to combine text from the 2012 Guide and/or WKR's labels.
Roadrunner- not in AAT so left as a DMA tag.
Cuckoo- family of birds containing roadrunners, so this is the AAT added.
Cacti (cactus)- not in AAT
Prickly Pear (Optunia/plant/cactus)- not in AAT
Caryophyllales (order/plant): AAT: 300375562- closest tag that exists in AAT.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin- Dallas, TX (?) Artist may have worked on the painting during travels.
Depicted- Texas
Depicted- Trans-Pecos (area)?
Process/materials
oil paint
canvas
Historical periods
Individuals
Darwin_Charles
Subject terms
cactus
desert
roadrunner
rocks
skull
snake
landscape
predators
prey
pebble
soil
grasshopper
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1944: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, anonymous gift
[1] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
The title of this work is a phrase commonly used as a variation of Charles Darwin's concept of natural selection. Darwin published his theories in On the Origin of Species (1859), but "survival of the fittest" was coined by fellow scientist Herbert Spencer in his Principles of Biology (1864).
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1944.13
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Survival of the Fittest captures the clarity and heat of the West Texas landscape as well as the precarious existence of its inhabitants. In this meticulously detailed scene, a roadrunner and a snake face off in a climate beset by death and heat. Their combat amid a broken skull and parched cacti, seen in a close-up view, offers an abridged version of the precariousness of desert life. In a face-off with the snake, the roadrunner has momentarily forgotten its prey, the grasshopper, who may be the ultimate survivor in that harsh environment.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection," (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 274.
- DMA Label copy (1944.13), n.d.
Fun Facts
The title of this work is a phrase commonly used as a variation of Charles Darwin's concept of natural selection. Darwin published his theories in On the Origin of Species (1859), but "survival of the fittest" was coined by fellow scientist Herbert Spencer in his Principles of Biology (1864).
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
This note was started by Erin Pinon, summer 2016 and saved as #incomplete. EAS will submit this #draft after reviewing the associated objects/files.
Object file reviewed.
TMS record reviewed.
No education file found for Darge.
Several photocopies of clippings are in the object file but are not entered in the TMS object record, bibliography text field or bibliography module.
No additional information on the donor.
Placed full cat entry from 2012 DMA Guide in text entries.
Added text entries for existing labels-- all of which appeared to combine text from the 2012 Guide and/or WKR's labels.
Roadrunner- not in AAT so left as a DMA tag.
Cuckoo- family of birds containing roadrunners, so this is the AAT added.
Cacti (cactus)- not in AAT
Prickly Pear (Optunia/plant/cactus)- not in AAT
Caryophyllales (order/plant): AAT: 300375562- closest tag that exists in AAT.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin- Dallas, TX (?) Artist may have worked on the painting during travels.
Depicted- Texas
Depicted- Trans-Pecos (area)?
Process/materials
oil paint
canvas
Historical periods
Individuals
Darwin_Charles
Subject terms
cactus
desert
roadrunner
rocks
skull
snake
landscape
predators
prey
pebble
soil
grasshopper
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1944: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, anonymous gift
[1] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1944.13
source file
object_notes_4_a-0249.xml.nores