Painting of a Lynx in a Tree Charles 
Livingston Bull (American, 1874-1932)
Oil on canvas
Signed on reverse
13 1/2 x 19 1/2 ( 20 3/4 x26 3/4 frame) inches
 
Charles Livingston Bull (1874-1932) has been remembered as “the premier wildlife artist of his time in America, perhaps the best of his kind in the world. He drew and painted realistic animals, a subject he explored through literature."
 
“I have no idea how many animal pictures I have made.  Thousands of them, probably, and of almost every family of animals.” -Charles Livingston Bull.

Born in Rochester, New York to a father who did not appreciate his son’s early interest in art, in his younger years. Charles loved drawing from early childhood. In an interview, he said, “My mother says that from the time I was four years old, I could draw any animal I saw, and draw it fairly well, too.”
 
 At 16, Bull’s first job was learning the skill of taxidermy, preparing animals for mounting at the Ward’s Museum in his hometown. Eventually he’d move on to continue his trade in Washington D.C., where he specialized in bird and animal anatomy – not a terrible backup plan for an aspiring wildlife artist. 
 
For many years, Bull also lived very near to the Bronx Zoo, allowing him regular access to sketching animals from life. Over the years, he also made trips to Central and South America to study wildlife in its natural habitat, further informing his work. 
 
After refocusing on his artwork, Bull made himself a successful illustration career, creating works for magazines including Collier’s, The Country Gentleman, American Boy, Ladies Home Journal, and nineteen covers for the Saturday Evening Post. Bull’s work is known for its strong sense of design, with minimal but confidently placed elements of color. Aside from the magazine covers, he was most well-known for a popular tiger illustration for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey’s Circus, and several series of government posters with a call to service during World War l. His expertise in animal life also led him to illustrate Jack London’s White Fang and Call of the Wild, as well as Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Bull left a legacy of some 7,000 drawings and paintings and contributed artwork to countless publications.
 
And, in a time of richly illustrated magazines and books, he gained a popular following among readers, writers and fellow artists. His wildlife art evolved into something uniquely vital and dramatic. 
 
“My working hours are probably the craziest in the world for I begin at four in the afternoon and work until two the next morning.”-Charles Livingston Bull.
 
As art historian Priscilla Anne Lowry has written, Bull was inspired by “the traditions of Japanese woodblock prints and the English Aesthetic; the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau. And particularly the bold yet sinuous drawings of Aubrey Beardsley, Bull established an attractive style of linear and tonal compositions.”
 
As his friend and fellow naturalist Beecher S. Bowdish wrote, “Charles much preferred watching the wild creatures alive than dead, so he didn’t often use a gun.  He was always looking for the beauty of the beautiful and I have heard many say that it was this trait that made him so delightful a companion in the field.  He was gentleness and kindness itself and the most unselfish of men…”
 
Charles Livingston Bull’s works can be found in numerous museums including the  National Gallery of Art, Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum. National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States, etc.