" HOMAGE TO AHMED "
Robert Bateman

290 s/n Original Lithograph
29.375" x 41.25"
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Ahmed was the last of the great large tuskers. He lived in Kenya and was protected as a symbol
of Kenyan wildlife by special presidential decree. Ahmed was guarded by two armed rangers 24
hours a day, from 1970 until he died in 1974. Ahmed was not gigantic, but it wasn't necessarily
the largest or the oldest of the male elephants that had the largest tusks -- the great tuskers
simply had it in their genes.

Ahmed is walking -- nearly striding -- looking mature and handsome, with his curved tusks gleaming.
My intention was not to be threatening; Ahmed is not charging. His tusks are down, and they are
very, very big. As an artist, I found the most interesting aspect of the image to be the treatment
of the wrinkles at the centre of his face, between his eyes and below his forehead between his tusks.

"Homage to Ahmed" was created to raise funds to help combat ivory poaching. This is more a picture
about ivory than it is about an elephant. It is part of the sad commentary on man's interference
with the world that these great large tuskers were selectively hunted for centuries, both by
collectors and trophy shooters. As the largest tusks were preferred, such hunting hastened the
elimination of large tusk genes from the breeding pool. This was the end of an historic phenomenon
that has occurred since elephants have been around -- millions of years. No more great
tuskers will be produced on Earth.

I wanted this picture to be large and impressive and confrontational because it is about that kind
of issue -- the ivory trade. In 1980, there were 70,000 elephants in Kenya. Now there are fewer
than 16,000. The demand for ivory on the international market had a resurgence in 1970, when
the price of ivory increased. By the late 1970's, thousands of elephants have been slaughtered
for trinkets - jewellery, piano keys, billiard balls - decorative items that sit on the shelf or the
mantel and collect dust. It doesn't seem to me to be a cause worthy of the destruction of such
a beautiful animal. We have to hope that people will simply stop buying ivory, especially in
Far East countries where the ivory trade is the heaviest.

  

Original Lithograph - 29.5" x 41.5" - 1990 - Homage To Ahmed -

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