Gallery

  • ‘Sumatran Tiger - Intensity’
  • 'Africa Dozing - White Rhino'
  • 'Africa Dozing - Lion'
  • 'Hastening - Paradise Shelduck Ducklings'
  • ‘Intimate - Pīwakawaka’
  • ‘Morning Light - Fantail’
  • ‘Reflections - Red-billed Gull’
  • ‘Intimate - Akiaki’
  • ‘Reflections - Juvenile Black Swan’
  • 'Intimate – Tūturiwhatu’
  • ‘North Island Brown Kiwi – In the Burrow’
  • 'North Island Brown Kiwi – New Arrival’
  • 'Reflections - Australasian Crested Grebes'
  • ‘Intimate - Pukeko’
  • ‘Black Vignette – Kingfisher 1’
  • ‘Black Vignette – Goldfinch 1’
  • ‘Intimate - Kereru’
  • 'Intimate - Tui'
  • 'Fantail Study 1'
  • 'Fantail Studies 2' (detail)
  • 'Short clawed Asian Otter Study 1'
  • 'Short clawed Asian Otter Study 1-1' (detail)
  • 'Ferns on Black - Moko 1'
  • 'Ferns on Black - Moko 2'
  • 'Rocks - Stratification'
  • 'Camelia'
  • 'Taranaki Footfills'
  • 'Brown Kiwi - Dusk'
  • 'Fantail Study 1' (detail)
  • 'Superb Fairy Wren - Wine Larking'
  • 'Fantail Study 1'
‘Sumatran Tiger - Intensity’

‘Sumatran Tiger - Intensity’

Sumatran Tiger - Intensity painting by Marie-Claire Colyer detail of eyes

Painting description

A Sumatran tiger lying on its scratching log gazing with intense eyes at the viewer.

Artist Statement

‘I feel close to this tiger after hours studying it at Auckland Zoo over the summer of 2012-13 and this painting is my all-time favourite. The eyes follow me about the room as I work. The log with its scratch marks is one of the tiger’s preferred places to lounge and I can never leave the zoo without looking for this magnificent animal.’

About the animal

The Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris ssp. sumatrae) is only found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and is considered Critically Endangered. Its population in the wild is declining. Major threats are habitat loss due to acacia and palm oil plantations, decreasing prey base, black market trading of tiger parts and conflict with man. It is the smallest tiger subspecies existing today.

The artist with Oz the Sumatran Tiger at Auckland Zoo

The artist with Oz the Sumtran Tiger at Auckland Zoo

Marie-Claire Colyer painting Sumatran Tiger - Intensity

At work in the studio

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