RE: Mystery Painting (Camarasaurus)

[bh480@scn.org (Ben Creisler)]

To: dinosaur@usc.edu
From: Ben Creisler (bh480@scn.org)
Subject: RE: Mystery Painting (Camarasaurus)

In answer to Dan Varner's query about a
mysterious painting of Camarasaurus on display
at the Smithsonian back in the 30's and 40's,
I can provide the following citation:

Mitman, C.W. 1936. Smithsonian Institution
exhibit at the Texas Centennial Exposition,
Dallas, Texas. Explorations and Field-Work of
the Smithsonian Institution in 1936: 99-100.

According to the short article, the painting
of Camarasaurus was done by Bruce Horsfall and
accompanied a special exhibit in 1936
at the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas, Texas.
It's not clear from the article if the painting was
done specifically FOR the exhibit, or whether it
predated the exhibit.

The exhibit included parts of a skeleton of
Camarasaurus that were prepared by US National
Museum staff as the public watched in a bay
of the Federal Building in Dallas. A full-sized drawing
of Camarasaurus was mounted on the back wall.
"Flanking the laboratory were exhibited two large
oil paintings; one, by Garnet W. Jex, portrayed reptilian
life in the Permian Age of Texas; the other, by
Bruce Horsfall, visualized Camarasaurus as he was
supposed to have appeared in the flesh and in the environment
of his time, namely, the Jurassic Age."  Additionally, a
diorama (still on display in the Smithsonian if I'm not mistaken)
showed Camarasaurus, Stegosaurus and other Jurassic dinos
in a swampy Jurassic landscape.

Can't provide much more info about the painting. It's probably
in storage for now. Maybe somebody at the Smithsonian
knows what happened to it. The article shows it on a wall
behind people working on Camarasaurus bones. It would
be nice to see a color reproduction. Maybe something was
published in Texas at the time of the exposition.