Indians For Guns

The most famous Tiger taxidermists of Mysore in the day,

can anyone provide me with some information on location (address) in Mysore and who to contact in relation to visiting the defunct factory please...

We aim at doing a small documentary and having this business immortalised, without letting it disappear forever

Thank you

there was a post here somewhere that spoke about the writer meeting the last van ingen.

i hope he is still alive. there is no website. but lots of examples of their work surviving both in india and in the uk.

all the best. if u get more info please share with me as i am a fan, collecter and owner (inherited not hunted) of their work.

Probably the world's largest taxidermist in it's prime . Undoubtedly the best taxidermist in the country.Also the most expensive. Stopped work with the ban on Shikar in India. Did a little maintenance work thereafter . Closed down completely about a couple of decades ago.

-- Sun Mar 21, 2010 10:03 am --

Today there is only one Taxidermist in India. Dr Santosh Gaikwad . Bombay Vet. College.

Sir what do we mean by TAXIDERMIST ???

The literal meaning of Taxidermy.......Taxi....to move (as in taxi cab....a cab used to move people from one place to the other). Derm (skin). So a Taxidermist is a person (group of people) who moves the skin of an animal /bird/reptile/fish onto an artificial mould , so as to preserve it and to make it look like the original animal. You must have seen those stuffed animals in museams or private collections. The technique involves different procedures starting from proper skinning and cleaning, dipping in saline, salting, curing mounting etc etc. Even skull mounts (horns and antlers) have to be boiled and treated by the taxidermist, so that they can be preserved for a long time.
Van Ingen and Van Ingen was India's best taxidermist and worked on more tigers than any other company in the world. Their work can be seen all over the world (specially India and U.K.) in the form of shoulder mounts, rugs and stuffed tigers (which appear so lifelike), apart from the other wild animals.

Thanks for the information bro

yes. Van Ingen & Van Ingen at Mysore were considered the best foe India and African Big Game Trophies. They were called "Artists" of Taxidermy, The expressions and the poise of animals were produced them were almost natural. All the Big Game Tiger, Panther, Bison and Deer shot by my father and myself upto 1950 were cured and mounted by them. I still possess some of these Tropies. They are still in excellent condition.
akayar

Hi there.
Vanigen was a famous personality in Mysore and was popularly known for his wild mountings. Well I've seen some of the Trophies made by him they are still in immaculate condition. Sad thing is that he is no more and the bungalow where he lived was auctioned last year. His bungalow was near Mysore Police Training Center which is very close to Mysore Bus Stand.
Take Care.
Cheers
Nabeel.

Here's a link where you can see some examples of their work.
http://vaningenmysore.com/ based in Australia.

thanks shadowring

Wonder how geniune that link is shooters.
The stuffed tiger in the first snap is from the Forest Research Institute. Dehradun. ........which I am quite sure is........ Not For Sale.

ive just been to the website.
The big full mount in the glass is indeed the FRI tiger.
However it is one of many pics from indian van-ingen tigers.Similarly there is also a pic of the model Twiggy and a famous palace in the earstwhile central provinces.
The FRI tiger is not for sale in the website but just a pic on the 'for sale' page as an example of van-ingen work

There are some live trophies there along with the stuffed ones

sorry, just came across this thread. Any luck since your original 2010 post? The Van Ingen & Van Ingen book, Van Ingen & Van Ingen, Artists in Taxidermy, Mysore (Morris, 2006) is considered the main source for information of the firm.