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Primates in Art and Illustration Image Collection

The primates in art and illustration collection, part of the Audiovisual collection at the Wisconsin Primate Research Center, includes images of a variety of nonhuman primate species. This collection of images was made possible through funding from the University of Wisconsin Libraries and is intended to complement the natural history slides. The images are drawn from a variety of printed sources and reveal, over time, how humans have depicted nonhuman primates, often reflecting their own culture, mores and attitudes through their representations. Included are examples of fine art, illustration, and sculpture, as well as other media. The Center is especially indebted to Stephen Nash, Scientific Illustrator and Adjunct Associate Professor at the State University of New York, Stony Brook who collaborated on the project and compiled the images for this collection. In most instances the images included in this collection are copyright-free, but it is always advisable to check copyright ownership before using images.

NOTE: While this site is under development, we are providing access to three examples of illustrations from nineteenth century works:

Edward Griffith's General and Particular Descriptions of the Vertebrated Animals, 1821
William Jardine's Natural History of the Monkeys, 1833 and
Ludwig Reichenbach's Complete Natural History of the Apes, 1862.