Alice B. Woodward (British, 1862-1951) 
“Pithecanthropus” (Now, Homo erectus. Formerly Java Man Anthropopithecus erectus, Pithecanthropus erectus) 
Preparatory drawing for “Pithecanthropus” in Evolution in the Past page 187 
Charcoal pencil on paper-faced pasteboard 
Signed ‘Alice B. Woodward’ lower right 
Board size: 10 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. 

Remains of Pithecanthropus (Now, Homo erectus. Formerly Java Man) are an early human fossil discovered in 1891 and 1892 on the island of Java. Estimated to be between 700,000 and 2,000,000 years old, it was, at the time of its discovery, the oldest hominid fossils ever found, and it remains the type specimen for Homo erectus.

Led by Eugène Dubois, the excavation team uncovered a tooth, a skullcap, and a thighbone at Trinil on the banks of the Solo River in East Java. Arguing that the fossils represented the “missing link” between apes and humans, Dubois gave the species the scientific name Anthropopithecus erectus, then later renamed it Pithecanthropus erectus. The fossil aroused much controversy. Less than ten years after 1891, almost eighty books or articles
had been published on Dubois’s finds. Despite Dubois’s argument, few accepted that Java Man was a transitional form between apes and humans. Some dismissed the fossils as apes and others as modern humans, whereas many scientists considered Java Man as a primitive side branch of evolution not related to modern humans at all. In the 1930s Dubois made the claim that Pithecanthropus was built like a “giant gibbon”, a much-misinterpreted attempt by Dubois to prove that it was the “missing link”. Eventually, similarities between Pithecanthropus erectus (Java Man) and Sinanthropus pekinensis (Peking Man) led Ernst Mayr to rename both Homo erectus in 1950, placing them directly in the human evolutionary tree. To distinguish Java Man from other Homo erectus populations, some scientists began to regard it as a subspecies, Homo erectus erectus, in the 1970s. Other fossils found in the first half of the twentieth century in Java at Sangiran and Mojokerto, all older than those found by Dubois, are also considered part of the species Homo erectus. The fossils of Java Man have been housed at the Naturalis in the Netherlands since 1900.

Woodward’s depiction shows familar human behavior: a child clutching to their mother, and a mother tending to her family.

ALICE WOODWARD (BRITISH, 1862-1951)

Alice Woodward is perhaps more widely known as a children’s book illustrator, an “acceptable” field for female achievement in her lifetime. Still, she should be known as one of the pioneer artists in paleoart, imagery that depicts what life on Earth might have been like millions of years ago.

Alice was the daughter of Henry Woodward, keeper of the Department of Geology at the British Museum and President of the Paleontographical Society from 1895 to 1921. Henry encouraged all his children to draw. As was the climate of the times, his daughters became artists and his sons became scientists.

Alice prepared illustrations for her father’s lectures and colleagues’ papers by her late teens. Through these associations and her father’s encouragement, she was eventually tapped to produce images for the critical publications Henry Knipe’s Nebula to Man (1905) and Evolution in the Past (1912). Knipe, a colleague of Dr. Woodward, chose each illustrator for their reputation for scientific authenticity— particularly bird artists, given the many similarities between bird species and dinosaurs.

Drawings prepared for Knipe’s publications contributed to one of the most important publications on dinosaurs during what is frequently referred to as the “Second Rush” of the Great Dinosaur Rush or Bone Wars. The first Bone Wars occurred between 1877 and 1892 between Edward Drinker Cope, the Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia, and Othniel Charles Marsh, the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale. These early paleontologists fought ruthlessly to pursue dinosaur fossils, a quest that resulted in an extraordinary period of discovery and the eventual financial ruin of both scientists. Their findings resulted in unearthing 136 new dinosaur species, ushering in a new era in paleontological research.

While still not a household name in paleoart, we should continue to delve into the history of Alice Woodward, an interesting artist who took textural descriptions of a species never seen by humankind and developed them into a form. It takes astounding intelligence to create a vision of a species in the setting of a world so foreign to modern man and make it real in a remarkably tangible manner. Knipe acknowledged Alice’s pictures as a document of science in the preface to Evolution in the Past, writing, “I acknowledge with gratitude the valuable expert assistance which Miss Alice B. Woodward provided at the British Museum (Natural History.) Her pictures thus possess a real scientific value in addition to their artistic merit.”

ORIGINAL WATERCOLORS PREPARED FOR HENRY KNIPE’S
NEBULA TO MAN (1905) & EVOLUTION IN THE PAST (1911-1912)

An exceedingly rare collection of original watercolors prepared for Henry Knipe’s Nebula to Man (1905) and Evolution in the Past (1911-1912) by naturalist-artists Alice Woodward, Josef Smit, and Charles Whymper.

Drawings prepared for Knipe’s Nebula to Man (1905) contributed to one of the most important publications on dinosaurs on the heels of the Great Dinosaur Rush or Bone Wars. The Bone Wars occurred between 1877 and 1892 between Edward Drinker Cope, the Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia, and Othniel Charles Marsh, the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale. These early paleontologists fought ruthlessly to pursue dinosaur fossils, a quest that resulted in an extraordinary period of discovery and the eventual financial ruin of both scientists. Their findings resulted in unearthing 136 new dinosaur species, ushering in a new paleontological research era.

According to Henry Knipe’s obituary, he worked for the British Museum. It was there that he likely met the artists tapped for this project. Knipe chose each illustrator for their reputation for scientific authenticity—namely, those skilled as bird artists, given the many similarities between bird species and dinosaurs.