 Tapir cookies made by Audrey Jakab, 1999 |
 A cookie in New Orleans |
"Alas, Poor Tapir"
This was the title of a review in American Photographer (March 1989, pages 10-11) for a show of animal skull photos by one of the all-time great photographers, Irving Penn. The show, entitled "Cranium Architecture," was held at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York between December 1, 1988, and January 14, 1989. Of the tapir skull in the exhibit (not shown in the review), the reviewer said, "The tapir, a less well armored relative of the rhinoceros, has a wedge-like projection extending from its forehead and a delicate vegetarian jaw that make its skull look almost birdlike." In reference to the review's title, the article ends with these words: "Penn's premise is simple, and perhaps the danger is in sophisticating it. Then again, even Shakespeare couldn't resist the elevating poignancy of a found skull. Why should Irving Penn, who is no less a stylist?" All skulls were in the collection of the Narodni Museum in Prague.