Joy Adamson
Joy Adamson | |
---|---|
![]() Adamson with Elsa the lionc. 1958 | |
Born | Friederike Victoria Gessner 20 January 1910 |
Died | 3 January 1980 | (aged 69)
Cause of death | Homicide |
Resting place | Meru National Park |
Occupations |
|
Spouses | Sir Viktor Von Klarwill
(m.1935;div.1937) |
Writing career | |
Language | English |
Period | 1960–1980 |
Genre | Nonfiction |
Subjects | Animals, African culture, nature |
Years active | 1960–1980 |
Notable work | Born Free |
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Friederike Victoria"Joy"Adamson(néeGessner;20 January 1910 – 3 January 1980) was a naturalist, artist and author. Her book,Born Free,describes her experiences raising a lion cub namedElsa.Born Freewas printed in several languages, and made into anAcademy Award-winningmovie of the same name.In 1977, she was awarded theAustrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art.[1]
Biography
[edit]Adamson was born to Victor and Traute Gessner (néeGreipel) inTroppau,Silesia,Austria-Hungary[2](nowOpava,Czech Republic), the second of three daughters. Her parents died when she was 10, and she went to live with her grandmother. In her autobiographyThe Searching Spirit,Adamson wrote about her grandmother, saying, "It is to her I owe anything that may be good in me".[citation needed]
She grew up on an estate near Opava in the village called Kreuzberg (now Kružberg, Czech Republic. With the outbreak of the WWII she had moved to Vienna earning a music degree before studying sculpting and medicine. As a young adult, Adamson considered careers as a concert pianist, and in medicine.(Zuzana Beranova, Dlouhe safari z Opavy do Keni)[citation needed]
Joy Adamson married three times in the span of ten years. Her first marriage in 1935 was to Viktor von Klarwill (aka Ziebel; 1902–1985).[3]
She went toKenyain 1937 where she met and married in 1938 the botanistPeter Bally,who gave her the nickname "Joy". Peter did botanical paintings, and it was he who encouraged her to continue sketching and painting the flora and fauna in her surroundings. She met her third husband, senior wildlife wardenGeorge Adamson,while on safari in the early 1940s and married him in 1944. They made their home together in Kenya.[2]
Joy Adamson is best known for her conservation efforts associated withElsa the Lioness.In 1956, George Adamson, in the course of his job as game warden of theNorthern Frontier Districtin Kenya, shot and killed a lioness as she charged him and another warden. George later realized the lioness was just protecting her cubs, which were found nearby in a rocky crevice. Taking them home, Joy and George found it difficult to care for all the cubs' needs. The two largest cubs, named "Big One" and "Lustica", were passed on to be cared for by azoo in Rotterdam,and the smallest, "Elsa", was raised by the couple.[citation needed]
After some time living together, the Adamsons decided to set Elsa free rather than send her to a zoo, and spent many months training her to hunt and survive on her own. They were in the end successful, and Elsa became the first lioness successfully released back into the wild, the first to have contact after release, and the first known released lion to have a litter of cubs. The Adamsons kept their distance from the cubs, getting close enough only to photograph them.[citation needed]
In January 1961, Elsa died frombabesiosis,a disease resulting from a tick bite. Her three young cubs became a nuisance, killing the livestock of local farmers. The Adamsons, who feared the farmers might kill the cubs, were able to eventually capture them and transport them to neighboringTanganyika Territory,where they were promised a home atSerengeti National Park.
In the concluding part ofForever Freethe Adamsons lost track of the cubs in their new home. After describing a fruitless search, Joy Adamson contemplated a pair of lions: "My heart was with them wherever they were. But it was also with these two lions here in front of us; and as I watched this beautiful pair, I realized how all the characteristics of our cubs were inherent in them. Indeed, in every lion I saw during our searches I recognized the intrinsic nature of Elsa, Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa, the spirit of all the magnificent lions in Africa".[4]
During Elsa's lifetime, Joy and George Adamson needed each other to educate her, but after she died and her cubs were taken in by the park, their interests went in separate directions, as did their lives. While neither wanted a divorce nor a legal separation, their conflicting interests (George wanted to continue to work with lions and she with cheetahs) made it necessary for them to live apart (though they sometimes discussed living together again, they never did). They spent each Christmas together and they remained on good terms.[citation needed]
Using her own notes and George's journals, Joy wroteBorn Freeto tell the lion's tale. She submitted it to a number of publishers before it was bought by Harvill Press, part ofHarperCollins.Published in 1960, it became a bestseller, spending 13 weeks at the top ofThe New York TimesBest Seller listand nearly a year on the chart overall.[5]The success of the book was due to both the story of Elsa and the dozens of photographs of her. Readers had pictures of many of the events of Elsa's life leading up to her release. Subsequent books were also heavily illustrated.Born Freereceived largely favorable reviews from critics. Adamson worked closely with publishers to promote the book, which contributed to the Adamsons' new-found international celebrity.
She spent the rest of her life raising money for wildlife, thanks to the popularity ofBorn Free.The book was followed byLiving Free,which is about Elsa as a mother to her cubs, andForever Free,which tells of the release of the cubs Jespah, Gopa and Little Elsa. Adamson shared book proceeds with various conservation projects.[2]
While television specials kept the Adamsons' cause in the spotlight, Adamson spent her last 10 years travelling the world, giving speeches about the perils faced by wildlife in Africa.[6]
A book of her paintings,Joy Adamson's Africa,was published in 1972. She rehabilitated a cheetah and an African leopard. Pippa the cheetah was raised as a pet and given to Adamson at the age of seven months in hopes that she could also be released. Pippa had four litters before her death. Adamson wroteThe Spotted SphinxandPippa's Challengeabout Pippa and her cheetah family. Later, Adamson reached her goal of many years, when she obtained an African leopard cub. Penny was eight weeks old when a ranger acquaintance of George Adamson found her in 1976. Penny had a litter of two cubs before the publication ofQueen of Shaba,Adamson's posthumous and final book.[citation needed]
During her lifetime, she created more than 500 paintings and line drawings. Her work included portraits of the indigenous populations commissioned by the government of Kenya, as well as botanical illustrations for at least seven books on East African flora. She also did animal paintings, among them studies of Elsa and Pippa.[7][8][9]
Murder and legacy
[edit]On 3 January 1980, inShaba National ReserveinKenya,Joy Adamson's body was discovered by her assistant, Pieter Mawson. He mistakenly assumed she had been killed by a lion, and this was what was initially reported by the media. She was a few weeks short of her 70th birthday.[10]
The police investigation found Adamson's wounds were too sharp and bloodless to have been caused by an animal, and concluded she had been murdered.[11]Paul Nakware Ekai, a discharged labourer formerly employed by Adamson, was found guilty of murder and sentenced toindefinite imprisonment.He escapedcapital punishmentbecause the judge ruled he might have been a minor when the crime was committed.[12][13]
Joy Adamson was cremated and her ashes were buried inElsa the Lioness's grave inMeru National Parkin Meru, Kenya.[14]
George Adamson was murdered nine years later in 1989, near his camp inKora National Park,while rushing to the aid of a tourist who was being attacked by poachers. He is credited with saving the tourist's life.[15]
In addition to Joy Adamson's books about big cats, a book of her artwork was published as an autobiography entitledThe Searching Spirit.George Adamson's second autobiography,My Pride and Joy,was published in 1986.
Bibliography
[edit]Books by Joy Adamson
[edit]- Born Free(1960)ISBN1-56849-551-X
- Elsa: The Story of a Lioness(1961)
- Living Free: The story of Elsa and her cubs(1961)ISBN0-00-637588-X
- Forever Free: Elsa's Pride(1962)ISBN0-00-632885-7
- The Spotted Sphinx(1969)ISBN0-15-184795-9
- Pippa: The Cheetah and her Cubs(1970)ISBN0-15-262125-3
- Joy Adamson's Africa(1972)ISBN0-15-146480-4
- Pippa's Challenge(1972)ISBN0-15-171980-2
- Peoples of Kenya(1975)ISBN0-15-171681-1
- The Searching Spirit: Joy Adamson's Autobiography.Ulverscroft Large Print Books. 1 July 1982.ISBN978-0-7089-0826-6.OCLC4493290.;also, (1978)ISBN0-00-216035-8
- Queen of Shaba: The Story of an African Leopard(1980)ISBN0-00-272617-3
- Friends from the Forest(1980)ISBN0-15-133645-8
As illustrator only
[edit]- Gardening in East Africa, II edition[16]
- At least six other books depicting the flowers, trees, and shrubs of East Africa[16]
Books by George Adamson
[edit]- A Lifetime With Lions. (Autobiography). Doubleday,1968. ASIN: B0006BQAZW
- Bwana Game: The Life Story of George Adamson, Collins & Harvill (April 1969),ISBN978-0-00-261051-3
- My Pride and Joy.(Autobiography). Simon and Schuster. 1987.ISBN978-0-671-62497-2.OCLC14586464.;also, The Harvill Press (22 September 1986),ISBN978-0-00-272518-7
Books by others
[edit]- Wild Heart: The Story of Joy Adamson, Author of Born Freeby Anne E. Neimark.
- Sleeping With Lionsby Netta Pfeifer
- Joy Adamson: Behind the Maskby Caroline Cass.
- The Great Safari: The Lives of George and Joy Adamsonby Adrian House
Films
[edit]- Born Free
- Living Free
- Elsa & Her Cubs– 25 minutes;[17]Benchmark Films Copyright MCMLXXI by Elsa Wild Animal Appeal and Benchmark Films, Inc.
- Joy Adamson – About the Adamsons[18]– Producer-Benchmark Films, Inc.
- Joy Adamson's Africa(1977) – 86 minutes[19]
- The Joy Adamson Story(1980) – Programme featuring interviews with Joy Adamson about her life and work in Austria and in Africa, and her famous lioness Elsa. Director: Dick Thomsett Production Company: BBC[20]
References
[edit]- ^"Pride and Joy"(PDF).Africa Geographic.August 2009. p. 34. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016.Retrieved22 March2013.
- ^abcLoewen Haag, Karin (1 January 2002)."Adamson, Joy (1910–1980)".Archived fromthe originalon 29 March 2015.Retrieved31 January2015– via HighBeam Research.
- ^"Viktor Isidor Ernst Ritter von Klarwill]".Geni.com.Retrieved3 August2015.
- ^Adamson, Joy (2017) [1966]. "Forever Free".Born Free.London, England: Collins and Harvill Press. pp. 410–411.ISBN9781509860241.
- ^Bear, John(1992).The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times bestsellers since the first list, 50 years ago.Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. p.78.ISBN978-0898154849.
- ^"The Life and Times of Joy Adamson".FunTrivia.com.Retrieved31 January2015.
- ^"Peoples of Kenya".Retrieved2 January2018.
- ^"A Lion Called Christian: An exhibition of the works of Joy Adamson".18 October 2011.Retrieved2 January2018.
- ^Joy, Adamson (1972).Joy Adamson's Africa.ISBN0-15-146480-4.
- ^Brittain, Victoria (8 January 1980)."Kenyans Say Murder Suspected in the Death of 'Born Free' Author".The Washington Post.Washington, DC.Retrieved2 January2018.
- ^"Report suggests Joy Adamson murdered".Rome News-Tribune.Rome, Georgia: Times-Journal Inc.United Press International.7 January 1980.Retrieved2 January2019– viaGoogle News.
- ^"AROUND THE WORLD; Kenyan is Convicted in Death of Joy Adamson".The New York Times.New York City. 29 August 1981.Retrieved20 September2014.
- ^Vasagar, Jeevan (8 February 2004)."Interview with Paul Nakware Ekai".The Guardian.London, England.Retrieved20 September2014.
- ^Resting Places: The Burial Sites of 14000 Famous Persons, by Scott Wilson
- ^"Kenya Murder in the Game Reserve".Time.New York City:Meredith Corporation.4 September 1989. Archived fromthe originalon 8 March 2008.Retrieved20 September2014.
- ^abJoy, Adamson (1972).Joy Adamson's Africa.p. 16.ISBN0-15-146480-4.
- ^Elsa & Her Cubs
- ^Joy Adamson – About the Adamsons
- ^Joy Adamson's Africa
- ^The Joy Adamson Story
External links
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