Written by
Ann Sylph, MSc, MCLIP
ZSL Librarian
9 September 2021
Arts and sciences are both vital to human culture and they help people to reconnect with nature and take action to protect it.
Sculptures can be found in ZSL Library & Archives and across the site of ZSL London Zoo, they engage, inspire and delight visitors, they highlight the variety of the animal kingdom from dung beetles to giant pandas.
Sculptures at ZSL are an important part of our heritage, together with our many historic buildings. Find out more about architecture at London Zoo together with a flavour of ZSL’s rich history. Discover more about sculptures at ZSL London Zoo, some feature famous animals whilst others are memorials to people involved with ZSL.
Obaysch the hippopotamus
One of the first sculptures you encounter as you enter ZSL Library & Archives is a small hippopotamus. Obaysch was a very famous former inhabitant of ZSL London Zoo, his arrival caused a sensation and created a new word -‘hippomania’! The small sculpture of this famous hippotamus was constructed from Nile mud by Joseph Gawen in around 1855, more in one of our previous blogs.
William Timym's work
Guy the gorilla was another iconic animal, the bronze sculpture of him near the entrance to ZSL London Zoo is one of the favourite sculptures in London. This bronze, from 1982, is by William Timym, 1902-1990. A painting of Guy by William Timym hangs in ZSL Library & Archives but there are also several other smaller bronzes by Timym on display such as this of Arabian oryx, these animals were the focus of a successful conservation breeding and reintroduction programme. More recently ZSL has been involved in reintroduction of scimitar horned oryx. Looking at the bronze side - on you can begin to understand the legend of unicorns.
This lovely bronze by William Timym depicts the black rhino Gertie, a former inhabitant of Amboseli National Park in Kenya.
Other stunning artefacts at ZSL
Not all the bronzes in ZSL Library & Archives are by William Timym! For example, this elephant bull is by Nicola Toms, 1997.
This beautiful marble sculpture of a cheetah’s head is by Ernest Dielman, 1988.
One of our intriguing sculptures is the iron eagle which was previously located for 75 years on the bird of prey aviary in ZSL London Zoo. In our archives, it is mentioned in the 1910 minutes of Council. There is a widely held belief that the Kaiser Wilhelm II played some part in the acquisition of this eagle, if you do know more please get in touch.
These are just a few of the sculptures which can be seen in ZSL Library & Archives. Please note - we are reopening by appointment by on Tuesday and Wednesdays only. Please contact us if you would like to make an appointment: library@zsl.org
On you way in or as you leave ZSL Library & Archives do take a look at the bust of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles in the entrance lobby, ZSL’s Founder and first President.
Further details of these sculptures and their sculptors can be found in the online catalogue of ZSL Library & Archives. To search for these and other art works click ‘Search Artworks’ on the left-hand sidebar and enter some details in the search box to discover more. The catalogue also includes details of other sculptures at ZSL London Zoo as well as other works of art in ZSL’s collections.
My thanks to Ann Datta, ZSL Volunteer Art Cataloguer and James Godwin (Photography).