Animal Meet Human was the latest in Crystal Bridges's ongoing Focus exhibition series that brought together works from our permanent collection, or special works on loan, to examine a specific topic related to American art. With this Collection Focus, we delved into objects from our permanent collection that revealed an awareness of the edge where the animal kingdom meets with that of the human world.

From Stone Age paintings on cave walls to artwork created today, animals are among the most enduring subjects of visual art through the ages. But what may seem like a simple tribute to a creature can also be a subtle reflection of human concerns. Animal Meet Human was a focus exhibition that presented 16 objects from the 1950s onward in Crystal Bridges’ collection—some never before on view—and explored the ways contemporary artists address human issues by depicting an animal presence.

Works on view ranged from Adonna Khare’s massive 40-foot-long carbon pencil drawing Elephants (2012), to Andy Warhol’s colorful Endangered Species prints to a rare collection of sketches by modern dance choreographer and innovator Merce Cunningham, among others, several of which are works on paper and thus rarely on exhibit.