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In an exciting partnership with Oak Spring Garden Foundation (OSGF), in Upperville, VA, the National Sporting Library & Museum (NSLM) is organizing Intrepid Audubon: The Birds of America to be held at the NSLM’s Museum. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue will explore the creation of the seminal publication, The Birds of America (1827–1838), by John James Audubon. The self-taught artist’s expeditions as a hunter-naturalist and ornithologist to document 489 North American bird species, created a stunning avian catalogue. Although he is acknowledged today to have been a controversial figure and enslaver, Audubon's work remains foundational to wildlife art and the bird conservation movement.
The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a bound first edition of his groundbreaking series, The Birds of America, a four-volume double-elephant folio of hand-colored engravings—generously on loan for the first time to another institution by the OSGF. These magnificent books with 39” tall spines will be displayed opened to images that highlight: Audubon as a bold and polarizing figure; the endangerment and extinction of several bird species; the artistic significance of the engravings; and the quality of the printing process. Visitors will have the opportunity to virtually explore all the images contained in the volumes through an interactive display. An original copper printing plate from the first edition will also be on loan from OSGF, and a vibrant and dynamic selection of framed engravings from The Birds of America will be on loan from the National Museum of Wildlife, Jackson, WY, and The Morgan D. Delaney and Osborne Phinizy Mackie Collection. This exhibition is made possible through the generosity of Oak Spring Garden Foundation and Mary and Don Shockey. National Sporting Library & Museum 102 The Plains Road Middleburg, VA 20117 Phone: (540)687-6542he Plains Road, Middleburg, VA 20117 Audubon was born April 26th, 1785 in Saint Domingue (Haiti). April 26, 2025 marks his 240th Birthday.
Richard Rhodes Presentation on John James Audubon: The Making of an American
Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar and historian Richard Rhodes will be presenting on his book, John James Audubon: The Making of an American at the Museum. Rhodes’ book is considered an essential work in Audubon historiography and paved the way for many publications that have followed since then. The presentation will be followed by a book signing event with books available for sale in the Gift Shop. This event is sponsored by the Friends of Audubon and admission is free, but donations to the Friends of Audubon are encouraged. The seating will be limited so please contact the Museum at (502) 782-7918 to reserve your seat! Event Details: Thursday, March 27, 2025, 6:00 P.M. – 7:30 P.M. John James Audubon Museum Cost: FREE, Donations to FOA encouraged. Reservations Required Organizer Phone: 502-782-9716 Email: [email protected] John James Audubon State Park Museum 3100 US-41, Henderson, KY 42420 Phone: 270-826-2247 The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg is thrilled to bring Audubon’s Birds of America to St. Petersburg. Produced by National Museums Scotland, this exhibition celebrates the extraordinary legacy of John James Audubon (1785 –1851). It tells the story of this iconic artist, naturalist, and ornithologist, as well as the evolution of one of the world’s rarest, largest, and possibly most coveted books, The Birds of America.
Printed almost two hundred years ago, its epic scale and spectacular life-sized bird illustrations caused a sensation. The exhibition features over 40 of these splendid hand-colored prints, as well as additional illustrations, books, letters, photographs, and ephemera. The majority of these delicate pieces have never been shown in public and have undergone years of conservation treatment in preparation for their inaugural display and tour. Audubon’s Birds of America brings new interpretations of the creation and significance of this incredible body of work. It explores this work’s historical context with fresh viewpoints and new research and considers why Audubon’s artistic style was so ground-breaking—and how, even today, his artistic vision is both comfortingly traditional and yet edgily modern. The exhibition also illuminates how this remarkable illustrated book influenced the evolution of the natural sciences, its continuing impact today, and what we can learn from Audubon’s incredible legacy. October 12, 2024 - February 16, 2025. Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg 255 Beach Drive NE St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 896-2667 John James Audubon’s Birds of America was a monumental achievement of both art and ornithology. His collection of 435 prints and accompanying field notes changed the way people saw and understood bird life. A major portion of this production was Audubon’s six-month expedition to Florida in 1831-32. Audubon collected and painted 36 bird species and observed and wrote about 50 more during his time in Florida. Some of the most famous images of his collection such as the American Flamingo, Great White Heron, and Roseate Spoonbill resulted from the Florida trek, and many have strong local connections. Hyatt and Cici Brown have collected over 75 original Havell prints from Birds of America, which have a Florida connection. This exhibit and accompanying catalog will display these historic prints and tell the story of his Florida expedition, where he traveled, what he observed, and what he painted. The exhibit and book will also examine how Audubon’s work inspired the modern conservation movement and remains relevant today.
Dates: September 21, 2024 - March 2, 2025 Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art 352 South Nova Road Daytona Beach, FL 32114 (386) 255-0285 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 [email protected] 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: [email protected] |
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