Jay Matternes

{{short description|American paleoartist (born 1933)}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Jay Matternes

| nationality = American

| education =

| alma_mater =

| known_for = Paleoart and painting

| website = {{URL|https://www.jay-matternes.com}}

| birth_date = {{bda|1933|4|14}}

| birth_place = Philippines

}}

Jay Howard Matternes (born April 14, 1933) is an American painter, paleoartist, and naturalist. His work recreating early mammals from the Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene epochs was widely published in the 1950s and '60s, including in the Time Life Books series. His work is in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Natural History.{{cite book|last1=Debus|first1=Allen |last2=Debus|first2=Diane E.|title=Dinosaur Memories|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w6PlspeWfpMC&pg=PA518|year=2002|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-1-4697-2194-1|pages=518–522|chapter=Jay Matternes: Cenozoic Paleoartist}} His restorations frequently appeared in magazines such as National Geographic and Time, making him among the best-known scientific illustrators.{{cite book|last=Wiber|first=Melanie G. |title=Erect Men/Undulating Women: The Visual Imagery of Gender, "Race" and Progress in Reconstructive Illustrations of Human Evolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eZVkDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA72|year=1997|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|isbn=978-0-88920-557-4|pages=72–}} Six Matternes murals were removed during renovations from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in 2014, and several are planned to be reinstalled when renovations to the museum's Fossil Hall are scheduled to be completed in 2019.{{cite news |last=McGlone |first=Peggy |date=June 24, 2018 |title=The beloved murals at Natural History Museum are coming back |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/the-beloved-murals-at-natural-history-museum-are-coming-back/2018/06/22/22ffaa76-762f-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html |access-date=August 27, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

Matternes was born in the Philippines and lives in Fairfax, Virginia. He is also known for his paintings of birds.{{cite book|title=The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum Presents the 1983 Birds in Art Exhibition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yf1PAAAAYAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum|page=92}}