Animals

What This Collection Covers

Animal art at Kuriosis is sourced from natural history publications, scientific surveys, and museum archives — works by trained illustrators who drew from live specimens or prepared studies. Ernst Haeckel's sea creatures were part of a scientific project to classify life forms no one had recorded before. Ohara Koson spent decades observing Japanese birds in their natural habitats. These are illustrations made by people who knew their subjects, and that knowledge shows in every line.

The collection also includes vintage zoo posters from European institutions, Japanese woodblock prints featuring animals — from Kuniyoshi's warrior frogs to Koson's herons — and contemporary work from artists we collaborate with directly. Browse our nature collection for landscape and botanical work alongside the animals, or explore Japanese prints for more kacho-e bird-and-flower studies.

Choosing the Right Format

Fine art paper is the natural choice for scientific illustration and detailed line work. The 225g matte surface preserves the precision of Haeckel's stippling and Koson's fine brushstrokes — details that can soften on textured canvas. For graphic prints, bold animal posters, and contemporary pieces with strong colour fields, the 400g cotton canvas adds warmth and presence that works well at larger sizes.

Paper prints are available in A3, 50x70 cm, 70x100 cm, and A0 — the larger formats are particularly effective for natural history illustration, where the detail rewards a closer look. Canvas prints come in 30x40 cm, 50x70 cm, and 70x100 cm. Frames in oak, black, or walnut brown. Oak works particularly well with natural history subjects, lending warmth without competing with the illustration. All prints are produced in our Berlin studio using archival pigment inks rated for 100+ years. Each piece is printed to order — no warehouse stock.

Styling Animal Prints

Animal prints are one of the easiest categories to build a gallery wall from. A set of three Koson bird studies in matching oak frames creates a quiet, cohesive arrangement. Mixing Haeckel's colourful marine illustrations in a grid of four or six makes a strong statement in a hallway or study. The consistent scale and colouring of natural history plates means they group naturally without careful coordination.

For children's rooms, the more playful contemporary prints work well at smaller sizes. For living rooms and offices, the vintage natural history pieces — botanical prints and anatomy illustrations — bring a sense of collected curiosity without being generic. If you are looking for a specific animal subject, lobsters, whales, cranes, and peacocks are among the most popular in this collection.