Alice B. Woodward (British, 1862-1951) 
Saber-toothed Tiger [Machaerodus] 
Preparatory drawing for “Machaerodus” in Evolution in the Past page 156 
Charcoal pencil on paper-faced pasteboard 
Signed ‘Alice B. Woodward’ lower left 
Board size: 7 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. 

The extinct machairodont subfamily of the felids includes one of the most famous prehistoric mammals and the best-known saber-toothed cat. Although commonly known as the sabertoothed tiger, it was not closely related to the tiger or other modern cats. During the Pleistocene epoch, smilodon lived in the Americas (2.5 mya – 10,000 years ago). The genus was coined in 1842 based on fossils from Brazil; the generic name means “scalpel” or “two-edged knife” combined with “tooth.” The hundreds of individuals obtained from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles constitute the most extensive collection of Smilodon fossils.

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.