This article was taken from the May 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
Ready for your close-up? Stephen Quinn, a curator at the American Natural History Museum in New York, cleans an Alaskan brown bear. "It shows the respect and care given to taxidermy in public collections," says Alexis Turner, whose book
Taxidermy ( out 13 May, Thames & Hudson) collects hundreds of images in an attempt to rehabilitate the art of stuffing dead animals. "Taxidermy spent the best half of the 20th century out of fashion," Turner explains. "It had a creepy image, further tarnished by its association with weird characters such as Norman Bates in Psycho. Today it is recognised as an art form -- in the right hands."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
