Conservationist Joy Adamson

In 1956, Joy Adamson’s husband George, then a game warden in the Northern Frontier District of Kenya, was forced to kill an attacking lion. He discovered that the dead lion had three cubs, and he took them home to save their lives. The bigger two cubs were sent to a zoo.

Joy used her notes and George’s journals to tell the story of Elsa in a book called Born Free, published in 1960. The book became a bestseller that put the spotlight on the need to conserve African wildlife. Joy published two more books about Elsa: Living Free and Forever Free.

The Adamson’s dedicated their lives to wildlife conservation and education. Profits they made from books or films about their efforts were put into a charity—now called the Elsa Conservation Trust. This trust has donated millions of dollars to wildlife education and conservation projects.

The methods developed by the Adamson's to release or re-release Elsa and other animals into their habitats became the model for many conservation efforts around the world. It also sparked the creation of Kenya’s national parks. 

In 1945, Adamson began painting people from different Kenyan communities. The first paintings were experiments, as she had never done portraits before. The work was successful and she was commissioned by the British colonial government to document the 20 Cultures of the peoples of Kenya threatened to extinction.

Joy was born on January 20, 1910, to a wealthy family in Troppau, Silesia, Austria-Hungary, which is now Opava, Czech Republic. She was named Friederike Victoria Gessner. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old. She then lived with her grandmother, who mentored her. 

Joy Adamson’s first marriage was to Viktor von Klarwill, a Jewish Austrian, in 1935. Viktor sent her to Africa to find a safe place for both of them to escape the persecution of Jews during World War II.

Joy’s paintings were published in The Peoples of Kenya in 1975. The book is a collection of portraits and full-length paintings depicting the cultural heritage of peoples of Kenya. Anthropologists and others who seek information about Kenya’s traditional heritage use the book as a resource. 

Joy’s paintings immortalize their subjects. On each painting, Joy detailed the name of each individual, his or her community, the location where the painting was done, and the date of the sitting.

Joy Adamson accompanied her second husband, botanist Peter Bally, in his travels through Kenya, studying the plant life. She became an accomplished illustrator specializing in collecting and painting Kenyan wildflowers and other plants. 

Joy’s botanical paintings represent each of Kenya’s eight botanical regions and include herbs, shrubs, trees and other plants. Her attention to detail captured critical aspects of the plants, making them useful to researchers in plant identification.

Joy was so discouraged by her first drawing attempts that she tore them up. Her second husband, Peter Bally, pieced her art back together and encouraged her to continue. Joy’s botanical illustrations became world renowned and have been used as references in botanical studies. 

But you might be surprised to find in the National Museum of Kenya, a small collection of Joy’s illustrations of marine life. They are typical of her work in their use of vivid colours and attention to detail.

This illustration of a Devil Firefish, Pterois Volitans, is typical of the illustrations of marine life made by Adamson. You might not want to come across a Devil Firefish in real life—it has a venomous fin spine that is capable of inflicting painful wounds when stepped on. 

Joy was a creative young teen. She attended the Slade School of Art in London. Her artistic influences stem from different sources. Her mother was a self-taught artist who may have motivated her to pursue art. Her second husband, Peter Bally, encouraged her to make illustrations.

Part of the Joy Adamson collection, this painting depicts the fish Rhinecanthus aculeatus, or the Lagoon Triggerfish. The illustration is typical of Joy’s artistic style; its colours are vivid, and it is meticulously detailed.

Joy Adamson’s pioneering work in the field of conservation brought issues to the world’s attention. She helped found the World Wildlife Fund, and she was an early activist in the movement to boycott clothing made from animal fur.

After her success with Elsa and lions, Joy Adamson turned her attention to cheetahs and leopards. She adopted a cheetah cub, Pippa, in the late 1960s. Adamson rehabilitated Pippa and watched over the growth of Pippa’s cubs. Adamson later narrated her record of these activities in two books.