Walter Potter was a self-taught taxidermist noted for his anthropomorphic dioramas that became icons of Victorian whimsy. For almost 150 years the stuffed animals were displayed at Potter’s Sussex museum where various creatures were posed in a variety of human situations, including a kitten’s wedding and a primary school class of 50 baby rabbits.
Sadly, enthusiasm for such entertainment waned in the twentieth century leading the museum to close in the 1970s and his collection was finally dispersed in 2003. However, the collection has recently been preserved and celebrated with new photographs of Potter’s most popular works in a book by historian of taxidermy Dr Pat Morris and curator Joanna Ebenstein in Walter Potter’s Curious World of Taxidermy.
