Legacy Museum Exhibition

Renowned American nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen has traveled throughout the natural world for nearly 50 years observing and photographing the Earth’s last great wild places. From polar bears in the Arctic to vast herds of game on the plains of Africa, from the deep jungles of South America to the tigers of India, to images revealing the diversity of wildlife in the American West, Mangelsen has captured rare moments and vast panoramas from all seven continents.

Mangelsen is a critically acclaimed photographer whose honors include being named Conservation Photographer of the Year by Nature’s Best Photography, the BBC’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year by North American Nature Photography Association, one of the 100 Most Important People in Photography by American Photo magazine and one of the 40 Most Influential Nature Photographers by Outdoor Photography.

Mangelsen’s award winning photographs have been exhibited in major museums including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and collected by thousands around the world through his MANGELSEN®—Images of Nature Gallery locations. Browse Mangelsen’s entire portfolio.

American nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen has been praised by many as a spiritual descendent of Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter and Edward Weston.

After spending nearly 50 years of traveling to the wildest corners of North America and beyond, Mangelsen has become legendary for producing a body of work that includes truly awe-inspiring landscapes and some of the most recognizable wildlife scenes ever photographed, including many counted among the most important of the modern environmental age. Like those of Adams, Porter and Weston before him, his photographs are coveted by collectors worldwide.

Jane Goodall and Bill Allen, the now retired editor in chief of National Geographic, consider Mangelsen to be one of the most important nature photographers of his generation. “His photographs have impact that stays with you,” Allen says. “They allow viewers to momentarily escape from their busy lives and dwell inside big humbling landscapes. Rather than being mere documentarian in their purpose, they also reveal personalities of wild, sometimes imperiled animals, reminding us that they are creatures of remarkable sentience.”

A LIFE IN THE WILD is an exhibition containing 40 of Mangelsen’s most resonant images—images that take viewers on a journey into the haunts of iconic species whose struggles for survival are metaphorical fulcrums for reflection in the 21st century.

In an age of rampant digital manipulation of imagery and an era in which many nature photographers take shortcuts to amass portfolios by frequenting “game farms”—facilities that rent out wildlife “models” by the hour—Mangelsen’s work stands as a striking and noble counterpoint, Allen says.

Every single image in Mangelsen’s portfolio has been taken in the wild under natural conditions; the result of him waiting for the “picture perfect moment” across decades and often in hostile conditions. Such a body of work can only be achieved by having a heightened sense of animal behavior, an uncanny feel for being able to read changing atmospherics in the environment, and patience.

At a time when digital technology is, notoriously, reprogramming its users to have shorter attention spans, A LIFE IN THE WILD stands as a testament to the rewards that can come to people who slow down their lives and wait for nature’s revelations to happen.

A LIFE IN THE WILD showcases Mangelsen’s signature, award-winning photographs of landscape and wildlife in all seven continents. Polar Dance, for example, is a whimsical portrait of polar bears appearing to prance in the Arctic that National Geographic called one of the most important of our time for getting viewers to ponder the consequences of climate change.

The exhibition includes Mangelsen’s Catch of the Day, one of the most widely circulated wildlife photographs in history, showing the exact moment that a spawning salmon, trying to leap over a small waterfall along Alaska’s Brooks River, soars right into the awaiting jaws of a massive brown bear. Catch of the Day was not only a monumental achievement in photography because it occurred before the advent of digital cameras and involves no digital manipulation, but also because thousands of photographers have attempted to emulate it. Like all of the photographs in the exhibition, it sparks conversation.

THOMAS D. MANGELSEN | A LIFE IN THE WILD Tour is produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C.

Prospectus Text by Todd Wilkinson, Author of Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek, An Intimate Portrait of 399, the Most Famous Bear of Greater Yellowstone. Copyright for all photos, Thomas D. Mangelsen, Inc.

EXHIBITION SPECIFICATIONS
CONTENTS: Forty Classic, Framed Photographs (ranging from 3' to 10' wide), Title Panel, Descriptive Labels, plus Film on DVD/Blu-ray for Airing During Exhibition
AVAILABILITY: 2021 and After
SUPPORT: Education, Press, and Registration Materials
EDUCATION: Reception Guest Appearances, Lectures, Workshops by Thomas D. Mangelsen (pending scheduling)
SALES: Books, Calendars, and Other Product Line

CONTACT: David J. Wagner, Ph.D., Tour Director
David J. Wagner, L.L.C., Exhibition Tour Office | (414) 221-6878 | [email protected] | davidjwagnerllc.com
Member American Alliance of Museums and International Council of Museums

FEATURE STORY

When Virtual Reality is No Match for A True Life in the Wild

by Author, Todd Wilkinson Published by Stanford University's Millennium Alliance for Humanity and Biosphere

In this age of superior environmental awareness, when mass media and virtual reality are ostensibly supposed to make us smarter in our knowledge of the natural world, consider this paradox: One of the most famous and widely-circulated wildlife photographs ever made is an image that most members of the Millennial generation probably assume is a product of digital manipulation…Read the full story.

TESTIMONIALS

“What Tom has accomplished would be extremely difficult to duplicate. His photographs inspire me because they wake us up to what is at stake. When  I think of the very talented nature photographers I’ve been fortunate to know—counted among the very best who ever lived—I consider Tom Mangelsen to be an American treasure.”
—Dr. Jane Goodall

“His photographs have impact that stays with you. They allow viewers to momentarily escape from their busy lives and dwell inside big humbling landscapes. A still photograph lets us find larger truths. That understanding can inspire us to deal with larger environmental challenges. You get that in a Tom Mangelsen photograph.”
—Bill Allen, Former Editor-in-chief, National Geographic magazine

“Few living photographers are worthy of sharing company with that kind of time-tested talent as the paintings and sculpture that are in the museum collection. Tom is an artist who happens to use a camera instead of a palette or chisel. He has done all the hard work required to attain visual mastery without cutting corners to reach the highest level.”
—William Kerr, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Board of Directors, of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, the only official Congressionally-designated wildlife art museum in the U.S.

“We want our pictures to matter. We see things nobody else does. If you show the world how sentient these creatures are, I’m convinced that you can move the dial of human understanding.”
—Michael “Nick” Nichols, celebrated photographer for National Geographic

“Consider a biologist turned photographer. Here is a heady combination—a double power. Some of Tom’s pictures are almost unbelievable.”
—the late Margaret E. Murie, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and a woman called “the grandmother of the modern American conservation movement“

“I can’t tell you how many places I’ve been, in people’s home and offices and businesses, where Tom’s photography hangs on the wall. For a lot of people, they’re more than beautiful photographs. They’re a proud statement about personal values and what they’re saying is they love nature. Tom’s work is a daily reminder and it makes them feel good.”
—Swedish-American wildlife sculptor Kent Ullberg