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For millennia, birds have fascinated the minds of scientists around the world. Today, birds face growing challenges of climate change and habitat destruction, creating a need for new research and climate action planning. On November 10, the Linda Hall Library opens “Chained to the Sky: The Science of Birds, Past & Future,” a free three-part ornithology exhibition featuring rare books from the Library’s collection and items on loan from Chicago’s Field Museum that tells the story of ornithology throughout history and poses new questions about the future of our bird populations.
The West Gallery explores the history of ornithology, featuring rare books from the 16th through 19th centuries by Ulisse Aldrovandi, Francis Willughby, Mark Catesby, Alexander Wilson, John and Elizabeth Gould, Charles Darwin, and John James Audubon, among others. The “Chained to the Sky: The Science of Birds, Past & Future” exhibition will be open Nov. 10, 2023, through April 26, 2024. The exhibition is free and will be open Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. CST and 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at the Library, located at 5109 Cherry Street in Kansas City, Missouri. Parking is free in the Library parking lot. Phone: 816-363-4600 Indigenous Portraits Unbound: Reflections on iconic images of resilience. 11/28/2023 - 3/30/2024
Take a closer look at one of the most imposing, influential, and expensive books published in the United States before the Civil War, Thomas McKenney and James Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America. Published between 1837 and 1844, the book features 120 portraits of Indigenous people, mostly tribal leaders visiting Washington, DC, as part of official delegations to the federal government. In this exhibition, you can view the work as it is rarely seen, in its original form of publication: in twenty fascicles, large pamphlets intended to be dismantled and reassembled into more permanent bindings by their purchasers. While the fascicles were produced and distributed in a time of great upheaval, dispossession, and conflict for Indigenous peoples in the United States, many of the images they contain have remained a source of intertribal solidarity and pride. CURATOR : Will Hansen, Roger and Julie Baskes Vice President for Collections and Library Services, and Curator of Americana. HOURS Tuesday – Thursday, 10am – 7pm Friday and Saturday, 10am – 5pm Admission for Newberry exhibitions is free. No advance registration required. Newberry Library 60 West Walton Street Chicago,60610 (312) 943-9090 Illuminating Birds: Drawing as a Way of Knowing, May 20–October 15, 2023
Part gallery and part studio, Illuminating Birds celebrates the enduring appeal of drawing and writing about birds. Requiring prolonged observation and deep curiosity, drawing — in its ability to distill — contributes to creative insights and scientific understanding. Experience avian artworks by Alexander Wilson, Elizabeth and John Gould, John James Audubon, Edward Lear and Louis Agassiz Fuertes from the Academy’s Library and Archives, all documenting the beginnings of the scientific study of birds — and the complex cultural and historical aspects that they carry. Examine colorful, early birding field guides and hand-painted magic lantern slides that demonstrate the role illustration played in popularizing birding and advancing the conservation movement. All exhibits are included with the purchase of a general admission ticket. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia, PA 19103 Phone: (215) 299-1000 This free display of engravings from John James Audubon's The Birds of America reaffirms why it continues to inspire artists, bird experts and conservationists alike.
John James Audubon was born in 1785. A self-taught wildlife artist, he spent twenty years travelling North America to record birds for his book. Published between 1827 and 1838, the 435 prints transformed bird illustration through realistic proportions, animated poses and innovative new printing techniques. The Birds of America is a feat of artistry and technical skill. Display highlights include:
Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Phone: +44 (0)20 7942 5000 Feb 24, 2023 John Gould and His World: An Illustrated Lecture by Robert McCracken Peck
Feb 25, 2023 Alexander Wilson: An Illustrated Lecture by Robert McCracken Peck Latest installments of the "Treasures of the Oak Spring Garden Library." Robert McCracken Peck is Curator of Art and Artifacts and a Senior Fellow at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. For details about these events including tickets, please contact: Oak Spring Garden Library 1776 Loughborough Lane Upperville, VA 20184 library@osgf.org A new exhibition featuring rarely seen Norman Rockwell drawings and preliminary studies from his six-decade career and coinciding with the release of Norman Rockwell: Drawings, 1914-1976, a new book of the same title, by Abbeville Press written by Museum curators Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and Jesse Kowalski. Though best known for his painted magazine covers and illustrations for stories, books, and advertisements, Norman Rockwell was also a prolific and masterful draftsman who utilized drawing as an essential underpinning of his art. Select drawings by Rockwell’s teachers, predecessors, and contemporaries will also be included, from the Museum’s American Illustration collection. Please contact the Museum for details of admission and tickets.
Norman Rockwell Museum 9 Glendale Rd Stockbridge , Massachusetts 01262 (413) 298-4100 Oct 30, 2022 - Jan 22, 2023
Organized by and drawn exclusively from the collection of the Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, Nebraska), Faces from the Interior features over 60 recently conserved watercolors including portraits of individuals from the Omaha, Ponca, Yankton, Lakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, Assiniboine, and Blackfoot nations. Contemporary Indigenous knowledge bearers, artists, and scholars from the nations that Bodmer and his companion, German prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, visited between 1832 and 1834 have contributed texts and four short films for this exhibition, which together highlight the diverse histories, beliefs, and practices embodied in the portraits. Amon Carter Museum of American Art 3501 Camp Bowie Blvd. Ft. Worth, TX, 76107 Phone: 817.738.1933 Great Leaders of the Indian Nation: McKenney & Hall Portraits
On view through March 5, 2023 in the Central Hall on the second floor of the historic house. Prints on view are from the Art Center’s permanent collection. They represent leaders of Native Americans from Ioway, Fox, Sauk, and Mesquaki tribes that inhabited Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, and Nebraska. Muscatine Art Center 1314 Mulberry Avenue Muscatine, Iowa (563) 263-8282 Hummingbirds
19th-Century Lithographs of Exotic Hummingbirds (Through September 5) Experience a beautiful new exhibit about the exotic hummingbird family in the Museum’s Maximus Gallery. Featured are original nineteenth-century hand-colored lithographs by British ornithologist John Gould. Hummingbirds have captivated gardeners and bird watchers alike for their delicate beauty and avian maneuvers. Native to the New World, there are over 320 species, mostly found in Central and South America. Of the 17 species found to breed in North America and winter south of the border, only six are routinely found on the Central Coast. While all of Gould’s books on birds were popular, it was his five-volume monograph on The Family of Hummingbirds, published between 1849 to 1861, that drew the most attention. Gould developed a special process to capture the reflective iridescence of bird feathers. His work on hummingbirds provided the most reliable attempt to arrange the species systematically and became the definitive reference for the Victorian era. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 2559 Puesta del Sol Santa Barbara, CA 93105 Telephone: (805) 682-4711 This free display (until July 6, 2022) of engravings from John James Audubon's "The Birds of America" reaffirms why it continues to inspire artists, bird experts and conservationists alike.
John James Audubon was born in 1785. A self-taught wildlife artist, he spent twenty years travelling North America to record birds for his book. Published between 1827 and 1838, the 435 prints transformed bird illustration through realistic proportions, animated poses and innovative new printing techniques. The Birds of America is a feat of artistry and technical skill. Display highlights include:
The Natural History Museum THE MUSEUM AT SOUTH KENSINGTON Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom Looking at the Collection: Audubon Quadrupeds
This exhibition (March 27 - July 3, 2022) presents a selection of original Audubon prints from the Museum’s own collection of thirty-four viviparous quadrupeds, donated by Mr. & Mrs. William H. Told. The Tolds collected Audubon prints for nearly forty years, having received their first work — a marmot — as a gift. They appreciated the scientifically accurate animal subjects (some of which are now extinct), as well as the beautifully detailed backgrounds that often included native foliage and other naturalistic details. HUNTSVILLE MUSEUM OF ART Haws Gallery 300 Church Street S., Huntsville, AL 35801 Phone: 256.535.4350 Catesby in the Carolinas
Mark your calendar for this exhibit (3/21/22 - 8/13/22) of Mark Catesby works and accompanying programming. Catesby (1683-1749) was an English naturalist, explorer and artist who traveled the southeastern U.S. and Caribbean and documented the wildlife he encountered there through his publication Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Catesby in the Carolinas is a collaborative exhibit between the Libraries Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections and the McKissick Museum. The Irvin Department is showcasing its collection of Catesby prints in its gallery at the Hollings Library and McKissick is exploring Catesby's natural history. Both exhibits are free and open to the public. Hollings Library 1322 Greene Street Columbia, SC. 29208 803-777-3847 McKissick Museum McKissick Building 1501 Pendleton Street Columbia, S.C. 29201 803-777-2515 Published between 1827-1838, Birds of America contains 435 life-size watercolours, all reproduced from hand-engraved plates. Due to its enormous size (standing at almost one metre tall), very few complete versions remain today. The exhibition showcases a beautiful bound copy of Birds of America, 46 original unbound prints, rare books, letters, ephemera and taxidermy specimens that demonstrate the accuracy of the drawings. Coveted for its accurate life-size drawings of North American birds as well as it’s depiction of many now-extinct species, its scientific value makes Birds of America one of the most celebrated books of natural history.
National Museum of Scotland Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF 0300 123 6789 Did you know that the New-York Historical Society (NYHS) houses the world's largest collection of Auduboniana? One of the great American artist-naturalists, John James Audubon (1785–1851) was the legendary rara avis who created the landmark Birds of America (1827–38). Experience highlights from Audubon’s spectacular watercolor models for the 435 plates of The Birds of America with their corresponding plates from the double-elephant-folio series, engraved by Robert Havell Jr. This intimate gallery—the only place in the world where one can see the artist's watercolor model, the Havell plate, and reduced octavo-edition exhibited together—features a bimonthly rotation that highlights a single species at a time. Each rotation also includes other watercolors and Auduboniana to showcase the artist’s creative process and his contributions to ornithological illustration. Curated by Roberta J.M. Olson, curator of drawings emerita.
Note: Due to the watercolor medium and its paper support, these light-sensitive works can only be displayed for short periods of time under low light levels. The gallery allows New-York Historical to share these national treasures with the public while preserving them for future generations. Please contact the NYHS for details about admission. New-York Historical Society 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street) New York, NY 10024 (212) 873-3400 The works in this exhibition (November 4, 2021 - March 2, 2022) come from the impressive collection of Dr. Michael and Elyn Stubblefield. The selected pieces showcase art from the 1700s to modern times and demonstrate how much art and artists’ views have evolved surrounding the scientific depiction of birds.
Some highlights include art work by Pieter Holsteyn, Johann Leonhard Frisch, Eleazer Albin, Mark Catesby, Sarah Stone, Alexander Wilson, John James Audubon, Prideaux John Selby, John Gould, Henry Constantine Richter, Roger Tory Peterson, David Beadle etc among others. Simmons Visual Arts Center Sellars Gallery 200 Boulevard Brenau University Gainesville, GA 30501 Phone: (770) 534-6263 Email: gallery@brenau.edu John James Audubon’s The Birds of America has been analyzed by scholars of art history, ornithology, and history of science and mythologized within American frontier history alongside the evocative biography of Audubon himself. It has not been thoroughly considered, however, through the lens of its primary printmaker, Robert Havell Jr., who printed the publication in his London shop between 1827 and 1838. In doing so, Havell Jr. transformed Audubon’s original watercolor studies into the scientific and artistic masterpiece for which Audubon is known today. Seeing Audubon presents the ongoing research of artist, printmaker and UW–Madison Associate Professor Emily Arthur as she explores the techniques and methods that Havell Jr. used to print The Birds of America. Additionally, two volumes of a complete four-volume set of The Birds of America are on view in this exhibition. Generous support for this exhibition is provided by the Brittingham Wisconsin Trust.
Chazen Museum of Art University of Wisconsin 750 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706 608-263-2246 The traveling exhibition "REVISITING AMERICA: THE PRINTS OF CURRIER & IVES" organized by Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, will be at the Florence Griswold Museum from October 2, 2021 through January 23, 2022. Special lectures about Currier & Ives on October 6th and 8th. Please visit the museum website for details.
Florence Griswold Museum 96 Lyme Street Old Lyme, CT 06371 860-434-5542 Revisiting America: The Prints of Currier & Ives, Jun 2 - Aug 29, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT7/22/2021
Revisiting America: The Prints of Currier & Ives will explore how the largest printmaking company in nineteenth-century America visualized the nation’s social, political, and industrial fabric. The company is best known today for its lush, hand-colored lithographs that nostalgically depicted an idyllic republic of pioneer homesteads, sporting camps, and bucolic pastimes; however, these sentimental images comprised only one aspect of Currier & Ives’ production. The company’s inexpensive and popular prints were a ubiquitous presence for decades, and just as frequently touched on pressing social and political issues. Addressing economic development, western expansion, the Civil War, and controversies of racial and class politics, Currier & Ives portrayed scenes of urbanization, nation building, naval battles, catastrophic disasters, and current events that were far from idyllic.
Divided into five themes—Country Life, Hunting, Politics and History, Sport, and Urbanization—this exhibition reveals the surprising modernity of the firm’s prints. The works on view offer a complex and conflicted vision of America that embraced the possibilities of an emerging urban and industrial society while nostalgically celebrating the social stability of a rural ideal. Associate Curator : Katie Wood Kirchhoff SHELBURNE MUSEUM 6000 Shelburne Road PO Box 10, Shelburne, VT 05482 (802) 985-3346 info@shelburnemuseum.org "Faces from the Interior is the first Museum project to focus exclusively on Karl Bodmer’s watercolor portraits of Native Americans. The exhibition features sixty-four recently-conserved watercolors, drawn entirely from Joslyn’s renowned Maximilian-Bodmer collection. This includes portraits of individuals from Omaha, Yankton, Lakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, Assiniboine, and Blackfoot tribes, among many Native communities encountered by Maximilian and Bodmer during their travels along the Missouri River from Saint Louis to Fort McKenzie, in present-day Montana. The installation will be complemented by a selection of Bodmer’s Missouri River landscapes and Native American village sites, placing viewers within the larger context of life on the High Plains.
Faces from the Interior was organized by the Margre H. Durham Center for Western Studies, Joslyn Art Museum, in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In Spring 2021, the exhibition will be one of the first rotating installations to complement The Met’s new installation of The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art. The exhibition will return to Omaha in Fall 2021 and travel to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, TX during October 29, 2022 - January 22, 2023. Joslyn Art Museum 2200 Dodge Street Omaha, NE 68102-1292 (402) 342-3300 "The MAC is pleased to present an exclusive collection of original prints, and a selection of drawings, paintings, manuscripts, and personal possessions that shed light on the man behind the masterpieces. Our exhibition tells the behind-the-scenes stories of the people, processes, and young nation that produced this American original. who overcame so many obstacles to attain international recognition through his creativity and initiative.
Supplemented with taxidermy from the MAC’s collection, the objects in the exhibition are on loan from the John James Audubon State Park Museum in Henderson, Kentucky, where Audubon and his family lived for many years." Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture 2316 West First Avenue Spokane, Washington 99201 509-456-3931 |
Antique Print BlogAuthorThis blog is devoted primarily to sharing information about some interesting events and news related to antique prints, and the artists who published them, with main focus on antique nature prints. Archives
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