Dahlov Ipcar (United States, born 1917), Bright Barnyard, 1965, oil on canvas, 30 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches, Portland Museum of Art.

From the earliest examples of American art until the present day, images of animals serve as vehicles for meaning. Native and exotic creatures alike help artists to explore issues of identity: the quality and nature of being American or foreign, human or beast, wild or civilized, innocent or worldly. These are all issues that artists grapple with in American Menagerie. Featuring 25 works drawn primarily from the Museum’s permanent collection, this exhibition features artists such as Dahlov Ipcar, Bernard Langlais, Will Barnet, Wendy Kindred, Scott Leighton, and Edward Hicks.

A special section of the exhibition features drawings, postcards, and ephemera that relates to the famous political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman, who is credited with the creation of the “Teddy Bear.” The figure of the little bear first appeared in 1902 in a cartoon Berryman drew for the Washington Post. Drawing the Line in Mississippi depicted a steadfast Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a cowering bear cub. Eventually the cub became both a personification of and a fictional companion to President Roosevelt in Berryman’s cartoons for the Post and the Washington Star. Berryman’s witty, incisive, and unfailingly endearing images add another layer to our understanding of American animals in this election year.

Listen to podcasts about the exhibition.