Peter Schouten was born in Sydney, Australia.
From a very early age he developed a passion for all things feathered, furred and scaled – both extant and extinct – which led to a budding career in palaeontology.
About Peter Schouten
Peter Schouten’s first artistic reconstructions in this field, when presented to the Australian Museum, were subsequently published by them as the book ‘Prehistoric Animals of Australia’.
The success of this book led to employment as a technical illustrator within the school of zoology at the University of New South Wales.
After several years Peter left this post to commence his career as a freelance wildlife artist – a career which to date has encompassed many books and exhibitions.
One of his most recent commissions, the so-called Hobbit, received significant attention when it featured on the front page of most newspapers around the globe.
Schounten’s commitment to his craft continues unabated, and he particularly delights in painting creatures that either cannot or have not been photographed, due to extinction or rarity. It is also his aim to draw attention to the unfortunate plight of many of these creatures and to emphasise the need for urgent conservation.
This was essentially the premise of his recent books ‘A Gap in Nature’ and ‘Astonishing Animals’, which for many provided the first, startling images of these wonderful animals, either lost or rare.
Continuing in this vein, he has recently completed work on a new collection which challenges all of our preconceived images of those truly colossal animals of the past – the dinosaurs. This book, entitled ‘Feathered Dinosaurs – The Origin of Birds’ was published in May, 2008, by CSIRO Publishing. It was published in North America by Oxford University Press (America) in September, 2008, and is still currently in print.
This was followed by the August, 2012 publication of ‘Gliding Mammals of the World’ (Stephen Jackson & Peter Schouten), which is a beautifully illustrated and comprehensive monograph of all gliding mammals.
Also published in 2012 was ‘A Comparison of the Heritage Values of Important Australian Fossil Sites’. This is an Australian Government publication under the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts to which Peter contributed significantly.
Currently in production and under contract is ‘The Antipodean Ark – A Prehistory of Australasia’. This book will be co-authored with contributions from leading palaeontologists in Australia. It will revisit some familiar ground already discussed in Peter’s first two books – ‘Prehistoric Animals of Australia’ and ‘The Antipodean Ark’ – however, this book will feature new and astonishing full colour illustrations of the creatures that populated our prehistory based upon the latest discoveries within this field.
It is intended that upon publication (2016) this book will be the definitive reference on this subject for many years to come. Also on the burner is the provisionally titled ‘Megafauna’ – a collaboration with Dr. Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History.
This book will investigate the movement of modern humans out of Africa and trace the impact these migrations had upon the world’s megafauna. It is intended that this volume be a companion piece and prequel to the popular ‘A Gap In Nature’, and publication is anticipated by late 2018.
Despite his busy book schedule, Peter Schouten is available for commissioned work. He is a self-taught and trained artist. His preferred media are watercolour, gouache and acrylics on either canvas or paper.
Peter Schouten’s Artwork
Major Exhibitions
| 1984 | Wildlife Society of Australasia Annual Exhibition. |
| 1989 | Faber-Castell Annual Drawing Exhibition. |
| 1991 | Australian Wildlife Artists Exhibition – Australian Consulate, Washington D.C., (with Bill Cooper, Ray Harris-Ching and Rod Scott.) |
| 1993 | W.I.R.E.S. Wildlife Art Exhibition. |
| 1994 | W.I.R.E.S. Wildlife Art Exhibition. |
| 1995 | W.I.R.E.S. Wildlife Art Exhibition. |
| 1996 | Fine Art Society Gallery, New Bond St., London. ( A solo exhibition featuring tree kangaroos.) |
| 1997 | Christies (U.K.) – Annual Wildlife Art Auction. |
| 1999 | Levin Gallery, Naturalis Museum Leiden, Netherlands. (A permanent exhibition of twenty paintings.) |
| 1999 | Christies (U.K.) – Annual Wildlife Art Auction. |
| 2001 | Museum of South Australia, Adelaide. ‘A Gap In Nature’ exhibition. (Solo exhibition featuring 103 paintings.) |
| 2002 | Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. ‘A Gap In Nature’ (Solo exhibition featuring 103 paintings.) |
| 2005 | Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. ‘Astonishing Animals’ exhibition. (Solo exhibition featuring 80 paintings.) |
| 2007 | ‘Animal Ornata ‘ exhibition of 30 paintings highlighting the adornment and ornamentation of obscure wildlife. Held to commemorate the opening of the new wing of the Manning Valley Regional Art Gallery. |
| 2014-2019 | ‘Manning Wild ‘ An exhibition of extant flora and fauna of the beautiful Manning Valley.‘Into the Wild’ This exhibition at the Manning Regional Art Gallery is an eclectic mix of subjects including original as well as published images from books past and present – 7 March till 14 April 2019. Featuring paintings from ‘End of the Megafauna’. |
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