Many of us probably know Rien Poortvliet for Gnomes, which is an undisputed fantasy/fantasy illustration/speculative biology(?)/well, spec-bio-adjacent masterpiece. But he had many other beautiful books to his credit and among them, surprisingly, is a work of Paleoart:
Journey to the Ice Age, published in English in 1994 by Harry N. Abrams is every bit as beautifully crafted as Gnomes and once again, Poortvliet's love and careful observation of the natural world shines through. The paintings are based on his thoughts wandering while sitting in his hunting hide.
A highlight of the book is it's focus on prehistoric people. I'm especially fond of the series of paintings speculating that the first human to ride a wild horse was either very brave, very stupid, or some combination thereof and also somebody triple-dog-dared them.
And now, the mammoths. Poortvliet had a few mammoth specimens on hand, like hair and a vertebrae; tactile reminders of the beasts, so they are never far from his mind. This is a very beautiful book and I'm happy to have stumbled upon it.
