Images of Nature
A new gallery of Thomas Mangelsen’s photography
By ADAM TANOUS
Express Staff Writer
On Saturday, Sept. 30, Images of Nature, a gallery exhibiting the nature
photography of Thomas Mangelsen, will join the ranks of 29 other art galleries in Ketchum
showing a variety of genres and media. The new gallery will move into a building on Main
Street previously occupied by Silverado.
Mangelsen, who opened his first gallery in Jackson, Wyo., in 1978, has
since opened 11 other galleries, primarily in resort towns such as Park City, Utah; La
Jolla, Calif.; Palm Desert, Calif.; and Steamboat Springs, Colo.
The Ketchum gallery will showcase Mangelsen’s work in North America,
Alaska, Canada, South America, Africa and India.
Growing up in Grand Island, Neb., Mangelsen spent many days of his youth
hunting and observing wildlife along the Platte River. With this experience came a
patience and an understanding of animal behavior that later served him well in his nature
photography. In a telephone interview, Mangelsen said that spending many hours in duck
blinds, he became a "keen observer of wildlife and learned about animal
behavior."
Mangelsen went on to study biology in college and then zoology and
wildlife biology in graduate school at the University of Nebraska and Colorado State
University. Mangelsen’s major advisor in graduate school was a world-famous wildlife
biologist named Paul Johnsgard. Mangelsen credited Johnsgard for first encouraging him to
photograph animals in the wild.
Working as a cinematographer in 1974, Mangelsen earned an opportunity to
film for National Geographic. The project was to film the plight of the endangered
whooping crane and chronicle efforts to restore the species. The resulting television
special, Flight of the Whooping Crane, was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Another cinematography project of Mangelsen’s led to the PBS Nature
and BBC Natural World film, Cranes of the Grey Wind. It is a documentary about the
life cycle of the sandhill crane.
In addition to exhibiting his work in his own galleries, Mangelsen has
shown his work in the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyo.; the Natural
History Museum in London; and King Sportsman’s Edge Gallery in New York City.
Mangelsen has published three books of photography:
· Images of Nature: The Photographs of Thomas Mangelsen
(1989) documents the natural history of North America.
· Polar Dance: Born of the North Wind (1996) is the product
of having photographed polar bears in the wild for eight years. The text, written by Fred
Bruemmer, details the story of a mother polar bear and her two cubs through a complete
cycle of the seasons.
· Spirit of the Rockies: The Mountain Lions of Jackson Hole
was published this year.
Beyond galleries, film and books, Mangelsen’s work has appeared in a
number of national publications including National Geographic, Audubon and Smithsonian.
Mangelsen said that he "strives to show animals in their real
environments…to capture their essence…in their habitat."
Mangelsen, who now works to protect mountain lions in his home state of
Wyoming, further elaborated his view of photographic work in a press release: "May
these images inspire you to experience and preserve the wonders of our natural
world."
