Buzz
The reasons behind creating dioramas are diverse. Some are fueled by artistic expression, others serve as educational tools to depict scientific or historical narratives. For some, they are simply hobbies that provide a way to pass the time. While many are peculiar, some are truly remarkable, and a few, like these ten, are incredibly bizarre.
10. El Chapo’s Daring Escape
The Mob Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, showcases a diorama depicting the dramatic prison escape of Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Modelers Shawn Bicker and Adam Throgmorton dedicated six weeks to creating a scaled replica of the prison.
The diorama features guard towers, prison walls, a fence lined with razor wire, and a detailed view of the shower in El Chapo’s cell, including the tunnel below it. This tunnel led to a waiting motorcycle and ultimately to his brief freedom. The tunnel connects his shower to a nearby construction site 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) away.
9. Henry Ford’s Monkey Bar
On a raised platform in a tavern, a monkey plays a piano, accompanied by a monkey harpist and a monkey violinist, while other monkeys study music sheets or sit at tables, enjoying the melody. Three brass monkeys on the piano’s lid strike the classic poses of see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, and speak-no-evil. The tavern is filled with a well-stocked bar, a cabinet lined with pigeonholes, and a billiard table, all set upon a hardwood floor that ties the bizarre scene together.
The monkey bar diorama is one of many crafted by Patrick J. Culhane, who was incarcerated at the Massachusetts State Prison in Charlestown at the time. While serving a sentence for 'larceny from a conveyance,' Culhane carved intricate, detailed dioramas from various materials. His work aimed to demonstrate the dangers of indulging in vices like drinking, smoking opium, and gambling. Culhane later presented his monkey bar diorama to Henry Ford, who offered him employment after his release, potentially even helping to secure his freedom.
8. The Death And Burial Of Cock Robin
Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Library and Curiosity Museum was once home to an extraordinary collection of the strange and eerie. Among its most peculiar items was taxidermist Walter Potter’s unsettling diorama, The Death and Burial of Cock Robin, inspired by a classic English nursery rhyme.
Created around 1861, the display features a pair of avian pallbearers adorned with ribbons, solemnly carrying Cock Robin’s blue coffin, visible through the glass lid. Each side of the coffin is embellished with metal rivets and three handles. A spray of flowers and a framed picture rest atop the coffin as the deceased is escorted to his final resting place.
7. ‘Die-o-Ramas’
Abigail Goldman, a former crime reporter and investigator for the federal public defender in Las Vegas, creates chilling 'Die-o-Ramas' to illustrate the grim realities of murder and death. These dioramas are shockingly detailed, depicting scenes such as a lawnmower murder, a tiger attack, a decapitation, and other grim acts.
At a 1:87 scale, these dioramas are enclosed in Plexiglas boxes, ranging in size from 26 square centimeters (4 inches) to over 1 meter (3 feet) in length. The larger dioramas include scenes like a shark attack, a shooting, a poolside murder, and a picnic featuring a dismembered body. The smaller works depict men drinking beer while barbecuing a butchered human corpse, the discovery of a body in a park, and a woman hanging a murder victim’s torso alongside the day's laundry on a clothesline.
6. Apocalyptic Tableaux
Lori Nix’s art occupies a distinct space. Collaborating with her partner Kathleen, they meticulously craft incredibly detailed and lifelike dioramas based on as many as 20 images, depicting scenes from a haunting, post-apocalyptic future. In these worlds, humanity is absent, leaving behind only the remnants of civilization, slowly being overtaken by nature’s reclaiming force.
In Library, a 2007 creation, trees invade an abandoned library, their branches reaching above toppled chairs, scattered books, and debris. Shelves still hold hundreds of books, awaiting readers who will never come. Subway (2012) depicts a train car, its ceiling rusted, its walls corroded, and its floor buried under sand dunes, with desert plants growing from it. Beyond the open door, the grim silhouette of a desolate city skyline looms, shrouded in smog, a distant reminder of a world long gone.
5. Fish Head Figures
One might think fish heads would lack expression, but this is far from the case in the dioramas created by French artist Anne-Catherine Becker-Echivard. In her series Les Temps Modernes (Modern Times), Becker-Echivard uses fish heads to craft the central characters of her dioramas, aiming to depict the 'absurd realities of modern life' and elevate them to a 'farcical level of comedy.'
She often spends months meticulously crafting each diorama. Purchasing fish from a local market, Becker-Echivard decapitates them, keeps the bodies for meals, and mounts the heads onto human figures. The juxtaposition of the 'human' bodies with the fish heads creates a jarring and absurd effect, just as the artist intends.
In one diorama, a production line worker wrapping chocolate has mistakenly sliced a piece in half and is being scolded by his supervisor. The worker appears properly chastised, while the supervisor's fury is evident as he glares at his unfortunate employee. In another, a fish-man in a blue beret stands in front of an expressionistic oil painting in a gallery, resting his chin on his hand as he ponders the artwork. His downturned mouth suggests he may not think highly of the masterpiece.
4. Bug Displays
Entomologist Daisy Tainton applies her expertise in bugs to create detailed insect dioramas. She has also taught courses at the Morbid Anatomy Library, guiding students in crafting their own insect-filled displays. She explains the process: 'We walk people through steaming, softening, and repositioning the bugs, then create an armature to pin them in place while they dry.'
Tainton's own dioramas often depict 'domestic scenes.' In one, a beetle sits in a rocking chair, knitting, with a cabinet full of knickknacks nearby. The cozy room has wallpaper, a mirror, and a framed picture of another bug, perhaps a relative. The beetle's children assist her by holding a spool of yarn. Another scene shows a dung beetle reading a newspaper on a toilet, with a radiator for heat, a basket of magazines on the floor, and a cat lounging by the door.
3. Photographic ‘Dioramas’
For some, dioramas may be a dying art, but Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto has devoted the past 40 years to preserving their legacy. He captures black-and-white photographs of dioramas in natural history museums. To make them appear lifelike, Sugimoto films the displays 'as if they were real,' carefully avoiding framing walls, glare, reflections, and any other elements that might break the illusion of authenticity.
Sugimoto explains what sparked his passion for this art: during a visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, he noticed how 'fake' the dioramas seemed, but when he peeked with one eye closed, the perspective vanished, and they suddenly looked very real. 'I had found a way to see the world as a camera does.' Since then, he’s been photographing realistic 'dioramas' like vultures feeding on carcasses, gorillas in their habitat, and a forest with a cliff rising from a misty sea.
2. Taxidermic Exhibits
At the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, the era of dioramas has come to an end. When the last full-time taxidermist retired without a successor, the museum decided in 2003 to discontinue, dismantle, and dispose of most of its dioramas. Some were donated to other museums for their collections.
In their prime, however, these expansive dioramas provided visitors with views of scenes they might never experience otherwise: a pride of East African lions in their natural habitat, pumas lounging against a backdrop of snow-capped peaks, elk wandering through forested landscapes, a hippopotamus in the African savanna, and a walrus resting on an iceberg.
Many of these dioramas were crafted by a team of taxidermists, zookeepers, and assistants working in the taxidermists' lab behind the Smithsonian Institution’s building. One of the key taxidermists, William Temple Hornaday, was also an avid big game hunter, and after one of his expeditions, he personally supplied the buffalo for a diorama he created.
1. Helicopter Crash Site
In 1993, as archaeologist Frank Owens was returning from his excavation on the east side of the Potomac River during a rainstorm, he spotted a helicopter. Later that morning, he encountered the same aircraft again, this time in a tragic state. The helicopter, Marine Helicopter Squadron One’s Nighthawk 18, had crashed, and its pilot, Major William S. Barkley, Jr., who had previously transported Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, was found dead along with four crew members.
According to the Marine Corps, Barkley had been investigating a prior report of "engine over-speeding during autorotation" when the crash occurred. However, Owens found the crash site suspicious and believes a cover-up may have taken place. He speculates that the helicopter was shot down by a Star Wars-like energy beam, fired from a secret military installation conducting electromagnetic pulse experiments.
As a result of his personal experience, Owens created a diorama of the crash site, which now resides in a corner of his home office. The model includes markings indicating the locations where the pilot and crew members' bodies were found.
