American Museum of Natural History Research Library
author: American Museum of Natural History

Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids (Exhibition); Mythic Beasts
birth: 2007 May 26
death: 2008 January 6
Exhibition. Opened May 26, 2007 and closed January 6, 2008. Located in Section 20, Floor 4 in the LeFrak Family Gallery at the American Museum of Natural History. Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids traced the natural and cultural roots of mythological creatures around the world and featured models, paintings, textiles, and cultural objects.
Summary
Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids traced the natural and cultural roots of mythological creatures around the world and featured models, paintings, textiles, and cultural objects. The exhibition was co-curated by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History: Mark A. Norell, curator in Division of Paleontology; Laurel Kendall, curator in the Division of Anthropology; and Richard Ellis, research associate in the Division of Paleontology. The exhibition was designed and produced by the Museum’s Department of Exhibition under the direction of David Harvey, vice president for Exhibition. The exhibition was organized in collaboration with and traveled to the Field Museum, Chicago, IL (March 21-September 1, 2008); Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, QC (May 14-September 20, 2009); Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney (December 20, 2009-May 23, 2010); and Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, GA (February 12-August 7, 2011). The exhibition was sponsored by MetLife (1).
The exhibition allowed visitors to build their own dragon in an interactive touch-screen station and featured video interviews with experts in various fields as well as Eragon author, Christopher Paolini, artists from Industrial Light and Magic demonstrating the process of creating dragons for movies, and artist Takeshi Yamada (1, p. 2).
Section titles and highlights of the exhibition included (1, p. 3-6).
*Introduction--featured a 17-foot-long model of a dragon with a 19-foot wingspan and a soundscape featuring sounds of rushing winds, rustling leaves, and pounding surf
*Creatures of Water—examined krakens, sea monsters, and mermaids, and featured a 16th century map and books with drawings of sea monsters; paintings of Mami Wata, a powerful African water spirit; Vodou banners from Haiti depicting the mermaid Lasirèn, an early 20th century ship’s figurehead with a gilded mermaid; stone carvings of Sedna, a character from Inuit legend; and two contemporary wooden figures of Yawkyawk, a water spirit from Australia
*Creatures of Land--examined creatures such as the European unicorns and griffins, which included Greek coins featuring griffin; a griffin statuette from Egypt ca. 150 C.E.; a model of Gigantopithecus blacki, a distant human relative; casts of mammoth bones and narwhal tusks; and a Protoceratops skeleton discovered by Roy Chapman Andrews
*Creatures of Air--examined creatures such as the Asian phoenix and Greek sphinx and included Japanese tengu masks from the 1800s, and Balinese shadow puppets of the Garuda and Naga
*Dragons--which rounded out the examination of mythical creatures and featured representations of dragons from around the world, including an illustrated encyclopedia of dragons and snakes from Bologna, Italy (1640 C.E.); coins with images of dragons from Britain (ca. 600-800 C.E.); an American weathervane in the shape of a dragon; a Japanese sword guard and suit of armor decorated with dragons from the Edo period (1600-1850 C.E.); samples of traditional Chinese medicine, longgu or “dragon bones”; and a cast of a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) suspended over the exit of the exhibit
*Conclusion--focused on the mythic creatures of the present and featured photographic portraits of people of all ages accompanied by quotes about the mythic creatures in their lives
Public programs related to the exhibition included a festival of performances, workshops, films, conversations with popular authors, and a “mythic fair”; lectures, panel discussions, and other programs for adults and children. An exhibition webpage on the Museum’s website is archived and accessible via a link in Related Resources (1, p. 7).
The exhibition won the 2007 CINE Golden Eagle Award for Arts and Exhibit Programs: “Creatures of the Water, Land & Air” videos, which were produced by the Museum’s exhibition media team (2, p. 51).
This is a condensed summary of the exhibition. For additional information, see Sources and/or Related Resources.