Today images of dinosaurs are ubiquitous, but less than 150 years ago no one knew what a dinosaur looked like. The genius who opened a window into the remote past was the American artist Charles R. Knight (1874-1953). This celebration of his life and work will showcase both iconic and never-before seen paintings, sculptures, sketches and murals of ancient beasts, paired with biographical text and experts from Knight's own writings. Knight began his career sketching animals from life at New York's Central Park Zoo and The Bronx Zoo. His true-to-life renderings of big cats, elephants and other wildlife gave him a firm understanding of animal anatomy and movement. He would later apply this knowledge to create the first scientifically based renderings of sabretooth tigers and mastodons of the Ice Age. Working side-by-side with paleontologists, Knight learned to imagine dinosaurs as more than skeletons. His murals and paintings of dinosaurs and early man are still widely exhibited today.
Richard Miller is an award-winning author whose previous books include "Darwin's Universe: Evolution from A to Z" (2009) and "The Encyclopedia of Evolution" (1990). He has been a frequent commentator for the History Channel and the Discovery Channel. Rhoda Knight Katt is the granddaughter of Charles R. Knight.