Belmore Browne

Belmore Browne was an avid naturalist, outdoorsman, and mountaineer, as well as a talented artist. Throughout his life, his love of the outdoors led him to wild places, where he explored the backcountry, climbed glaciated peaks, observed animals, and hunted wildlife. From 1883 to 1888, his family lived in the Swiss Alps, where he developed keen observation and drawing skills. In 1889, his family returned to the United States to live in the pioneer town of Tacoma, Washington.

From 1898 until 1900, Browne studied at the New York School of Art and was drawn to the collections of the American Museum of Natural History for inspiration. In 1902, he was invited to join an American Museum expedition to the Yukon and Alaska to hunt animals for skins to be displayed at the museum and accurately record the wildlife in its habitat. This trip began his life's work as a landscape and wildlife artist.

Beginning in 1905, Browne illustrated hunting and climbing scenes for publications including Collier's, Hearst's, Scribner's, and Harper's magazines. After several climbing expeditions to Mount McKinley in Alaska, he became deeply involved in the Senate hearings that led to the establishment of Mount McKinley National Park on February 26, 1917. From 1921 until 1943, Browne maintained a studio in Banff, Alberta, and exhibited his works at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Smithsonian Institution. He was the Director of the Santa Barbara School of Art from 1930 to 1934 and spent many of those years creating landscape dioramas for natural history museum exhibitions.