Whales, A Celebration (History)

From the front cover flap: "Whales: A Celebration is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Never before has one volume gathered together so many renowned contemporary painters, novelists, poets, sculptors, and composers, all addressing themselves to a single social issue. Two hundred and fifty of the world's best artists join forces here to help save from extinction some of the most beautiful and friendly creatures on this earth - the whales and the dolphins. Whales: A Celebration brings together the voices of our contemporaries and allows their work, in most cases created especially for this volume, to cross national borders and centuries and to stand next to the written and graphic depictions of dolphins and whales through the ages. For man's concern for whales and dolphins is by no means a recent phenomenon. Throughout our history they have been close to humankind, and Whales: A Celebration documents this fascination which is as old as art itself. The stories and images from the past provide a background to the contemporary works, and highlight them. From Plutarch to John Fowles, from William Golding to Margaret Atwood, from Allen Ginsburg to Carl Sagan, from Dali to Rauschenberg, from Shchedrin to Leonard Bernstein, artists have found inspiration in the great whales and dolphins. This extraordinary book is a vivid protest against their slaughter."