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Ad Code: 2
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from Auction House Records.
ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR FOR "LONG HAIRED SQUIRREL" PL. 27, FROM "THE VIVIPAROUS QUADRUPEDS OF NORTH AMERICA," CIRCA 1841-45
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Leslie Kostrich, a professional dealing in Audubon prints, has contributed to the following biography.
One of America's first wildlife artists, John Audubon has a
name synonymous with conservation, but his realization about protecting
the environment came late in his lifetime. He was an avid hunter, who
killed the specimens depicted in his publications, but his in-depth
studies have left a strong awareness of the beauties and complexities
of nature.
Audubon was born in Santa Domingo, now Haiti, of a
French Chambermaid mother, Jeanne Rabin, and French father, Jean
Audubon, who was a successful naval officer, merchant, planter, and
slave dealer. They traveled on the same ship to Haiti in October,
1783.
In France, where he was taken at age 4, the young Audubon
was educated among the upper classes. By age 15, he was drawing
French birds, and by age 17, he was studying drawing in Paris. It
has been written that he studied in Paris with Jacques-Louis David, a
story that Audubon allowed to continue, but no credible evidence
supports this assertion.
From 1803, while he was in Pennsylvania
managing his father's estate, and developing a love for the outdoors,
he began his ventures into ornithology. In 1820, he made his goal
the publication of an anthology of bird drawings, and financing his way
with portraiture, he traveled the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and Great
Lakes, settling in New Orleans. Unable to find a publisher for
his collection in the United States, he succeeded in London where he
stayed from 1826 to 1831, and found William Lizars and Robert Havell,
Jr. as engravers. However, the association with Lizars terminated
in the first half of 1827.
By 1839, he had achieved his life-long ambition of finishing his four volume series of life-sized bird portraits, The Birds of America.
The plates were published between 1827 and 1838, and the accompanying
letterpress titled "Ornithological Biography" was completed finished in
1839. This unparalleled study reveals the dynamics of birds
living in habitats.
Audubon made several collecting trips back
to the United States, the first in 1829, during which he repaired his
damaged relationship with his wife, Lucy. On his 1831-1832 trip,
he spent time in Charleston, South Carolina where he met the Reverend
John Bachman who became a close friend and important ally in helping
Audubon to establish a reputation as a credible naturalist. Two
of Bachman's daughters eventually married Audubon's two sons, Victor
Gifford Audubon and John Woodhouse Audubon.
In 1843, he took
the steamer, Omega, from St. Louis up the Missouri River to Fort Union
and then went overland to the Yellowstone River, making stops in
Nebraska in May and October, 1843. Along the way, he saw birds
and animals, and he focused on an idea he had begun developing with
Bachman in 1836, which was to do a series on American mammals.
The purpose of this 1843 trip was to gather specimens for painting, and
dressed in Indian hunting clothes, he returned to St. Louis with live
deer, badgers and foxes.
Bachman wrote the text for Audubon's second series, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,
which, published in three volumes between 1845-1848, made the
reputation of the senior Audubon. His collaborators in this
project were his two sons, John Woodhouse who did about half of the
animals depicted in the series, and Victor who did most of the
backgrounds. Bachman's sister-in-law, and later his second wife,
Maria Martin, also assisted in painting the backgrounds and
plants. The Letterpress by Bachman was published in three volumes from 1846 to 1854.
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Biography from Altermann Galleries and Auctioneers, Santa Fe I:
| John James Audubon
Born: Les Cayes, Haiti 1785
Died: New York City 1851
Important bird and quadruped painter, naturalist, work in “Birds of America,” “Quadrupeds of North America”
Audubon’s father was a ship captain successful as merchant, planter, and slave dealer in Haiti while his wife remained in France. Audubon’s mother was a Creole slave. Brought to France at four, Audubon was legitimatized and educated among the well-to-do. At 15 he was drawing French birds, and at 17 studied drawing with David in Paris. In 1803, Audubon was sent to Pennsylvania to manage his father’s estate, a sportsman in pumps, beginning his ventures into ornithology. From 1807 to 1819 he engaged in a series of failing businesses on the Kentucky frontier. When he was jailed for debt, bankruptcy left him only his clothes, his gun, and his drawings of birds. After a short stay as taxidermist at the Cincinnati museum 1819-20, he set his goals on publishing his bird drawings. While Mrs. Audubon supported the family, he traveled the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Great Lakes, exploring for birds. Unable to find a publisher in Philadelphia in 1824, Audubon went to Liverpool, Edinburgh, and London 1826-27 where William Lizars and Robert Havell, Jr. were his engravers. The original drawings of more than 1,000 birds were in mixed media, watercolor, pencil, pens, and pastel to accomplish the various effects desired, but when he paid his way with copies were in oil, Audubon returned to the US in 1831 as its foremost naturalist.
In 1837, Audubon was granted a navel cutter to explore the coastline from New Orleans to Galveston where he spent three weeks. In Houston, he met with Gen. Houston at the time of the celebration of Texas independence, but found no new bird species. In 1843, Audubon went up to Missouri to Fort Union and made an overland trip along the Yellowstone, seeing birds where Carlin had seen Indians. He returned in Indian hunting dress with live deer, badgers, and foxes in addition to his portfolios and collected artifacts. His later years were spent at his Hudson River estate.
Resource: SAMUELS’ Encyclopedia of ARTISTS of THE AMERICAN WEST, Peggy and Harold Samuels, 1985, Castle Publishing
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Biography from Pierce Galleries, Inc.:
| John
James Audubon's entire career was devoted to preserving images of
rapidly declining species of birds and wild animals in watercolor and
oil.
Audubon was born in Santa Domingo (now Haiti) to a French
naval officer and his Creole mistress. He was raised in France during
the French Revolution. In 1803, Audubon fled with his father to the
United States because Napoleon was seeking soldiers for his army.
Although
he studied with Jacques-Louis David (France) and John Stein in Natchez,
Mississippi, Audubon was largely self-taught as an artist and a
scientist. Audubon soon became enthralled with every bird in North
America, and he traveled extensively up and down the Ohio and
Mississippi River basins and as far south as the Florida Keys to study
birds and to produce watercolors in preparation for The Birds of
America.
From 1819-1839, the ornithologist Audubon catalogued
as many species as he could and his notes and paintings are represented
in the now-famous John James Audubon: The Watercolors for the Birds of
America.
The artist, naturalist, explorer, publisher was also
an entrepreneur, writer and an active, vocal environmentalist. He
realistically and enthusiastically painted wildlife (especially birds)
in flying or grounded positions with detailed accuracy and preserved in
paint many now-extinct birds for future generations to study and
observe.
After 1826, Audubon went to Great Britain to raise
subscription money and find engravers and publishers for Birds of
America, published eventually from 1828-1838 with the help of Scottish
engraver William Home Lizars (the early part of the series) and English
engraver-publisher Robert Havell, Jr.
From 1831-1832, Audubon
returned to Florida to paint more birds. From 1845-1848, the series Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America was published and made the
reputation of this naturalist.
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Biography from The Caldwell Gallery - I:
| John Audubon was born in 1785 in Les Cayes, Haiti. He is the foremost painter of wildlife to date. He had been a bird collector as a boy but undertook the role of shop owner until the age of 35. At this point, Audubon began systematically recording birds in watercolor across the Northeast. He collected all bird specimens and had an assistant to gather flowers and plants to be used in his pictures.
In 1826 Audubon traveled to Great Britain in search of a publisher, returning to Florida only during the winter to include more birds in his monumental project. Birds of America was completed and published in 1838. The watercolor illustrations displayed 489 different species and were sold by subscription at $1,000 each. Robert Havellur provided all the engravings to accompany the work. Audubon also published Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America in 1848, which contained 150 more paintings of wildlife.
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| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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John Audubon is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
Paris Pre 1900
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