There is no preparing for a Bengal tiger walking directly toward you. The intellectual knowledge of what it is — the largest wild cat in Asia, the apex predator of the Indian subcontinent, an animal of such physical power and such evolutionary perfection that it has remained essentially unchanged for two million years — dissolves completely in the presence of the actual animal, and what remains is something more immediate and more honest: pure, undiluted attention. The Bengal Tiger captures that attention in a portrait of extraordinary power and intimacy: a Bengal tiger moving through the dry winter scrub of a Rajasthan forest directly toward the camera, his striped coat a study in the extraordinary graphic beauty of an animal that uses pattern as concealment and yet, in the open, reads as pure visual spectacle — the bold black stripes against the rich amber and orange of the coat, the white facial markings framing pale eyes of complete and unsettling focus. The dry scrub forest of Ranthambore surrounds him in the warm amber tones of the Indian dry season, the leafless branches creating a natural frame that concentrates the eye on the animal and on the quality of its forward movement — unhurried, purposeful, completely confident in its ownership of every inch of the terrain it is crossing. The massive paws, the deep chest, the powerful shoulders rolling slightly with each stride — every physical detail of the animal speaks to a predator at the absolute peak of its evolutionary development, moving through its landscape with the easy authority of something that has never had reason to doubt its place in the order of things. A natural companion to The King and His Queen — Tanzania Lion Fine Art Print and The Dagga Boy — Cape Buffalo Fine Art Portrait, The Bengal Tiger stands as the most dramatically powerful and internationally significant wildlife image in the collection — one of the most endangered and most magnificent animals on earth, documented with exceptional clarity and intimacy in its natural habitat. Available as a limited edition of 50 worldwide on ChromaLuxe Metal, Lumachrome HD TruLife Acrylic, or DuraPlaq® FloatPlaqs. Photo © copyright by Tamara Gooch.

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