John James Audubon and the Art of Birds
This exhibition (04.10.2014 - 04.01.2015) focuses on
masterwork, The Birds of
America, contextualizing Audubon’s work with examples of the finest
ornithological art from the Renaissance to the present day. Built around a
series of themes, the show compares rough woodcut prints from the early
bestiaries with the refined elegance and brilliant colors of Francois
Levaillant’s engravings.
Prints from Mark Catesby and Alexander Wilson trace
the work of early artist-naturalists in America before Audubon. The lavish
publications that followed Audubon’s work are represented with lithographs by
John Gould, Edward Lear, Joseph Wolf, and many others. During the 20th century,
artists such as Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Francis Lee Jaques, Roger Tory Peterson,
and Robert Bateman took bird art in new directions.
The human fascination with
birds continues to the present day, and the show will include works by a small,
select group of living artists, such as Lars Jonsson and Walton Ford, who have
made particular contributions to the study of birds, or whose work is inspired
by Audubon’s example. (Text: National Museum of Wildlife Art)