Courtesy The Preservation Society of Newport County

Wild Imagination: Art and Animals in the Gilded Age
Closing Sunday, January 12, 2025
Newport Mansions, Rosecliff, Newport, RI

This is the final week to explore how Americans’ relationship with animals transformed during the Gilded Age (1870-1914) in this fascinating exhibition at Newport Mansions before it closes on January 12!

With a focus on Newport history, Wild Imagination: Art and Animals in the Gilded Age delves into how this exciting, tumultuous period shaped the role of animals in our modern world. In the late 19th century, as Americans moved from farms to cities and lost touch with rural life and nature, nostalgia for a bond with animals grew. At the same time, many where encountering exotic species through travel, exploration, and imperialism, while natural history hobbies like birdwatching and pet keeping flourished. And while captive animals thrilled spectators at zoos and circuses, which both had their heyday in the Gilded Age, activists launched the nation’s first animal rights movement. Newporters played a vital, though often contradictory role, championing animal rights while popularizing furs and feathers, pampering pets while supporting industries like railroads that destroyed wildlife habitats.

Wild Imagination brings together a menagerie of animal-themed artworks and other objects, from paintings, sculptures, photographs and fashions to fancy dog collars and sea creatures blown in glass. These pieces reflect profound and lasting changes in human-animal relations. They also reveal the individual stories of wondrous creatures that continue to capture our imagination.

To learn more, click here.