Audubon as Artist: A New Look at The Birds of America

by Roberta J. M. Olson

Overview

“Olson deftly sketches a lively portrait of the man. . . . She gives us his rich inner life as well. . . . Riveting. . . . Refreshing.”—Wall Street Journal

Exquisitely illustrated and innovative, an investigation of the artistic evolution of John James Audubon.
 
John James Audubon (1785-1851), artist, naturalist, and creator of the celebrated The Birds of America, is widely regarded as America’s first exceptional watercolorist. This book offers a unique exploration of Audubon’s artistic journey intertwined with the drama of his life, unveiling how he studied both past and contemporary artists to forge something entirely innovative. Through this book, readers are invited to rediscover Audubon’s groundbreaking watercolors as exemplary works of fine art. Moreover, the book delves into the controversies surrounding this legendary figure, who, for the first time in history, accurately represented all avian species life-size. Beautifully illustrated, it chronicles how Audubon infused ornithological illustration with a sense of exhilaration, breathing new life into once-conventional formulas and transforming them into awe-inspiring masterpieces.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789148381
Publisher:	Reaktion Books, Limited
Publication date:	04/15/2024
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Roberta J. M. Olson is curator of drawings at the New-York Historical Society. Her books include Audubon’s Aviary: The Original Watercolors for ‘The Birds of America’.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1 Before The Birds of America and Audubon’s ‘Early Birds’
Chapter 2 Desperately Seeking a Living in Art
Chapter 3 Audubon in the Crosshairs
Chapter 4 Fledging: Great Britain and the Odyssey of The Birds
Chapter 5 To France and Feathering the Nest
Chapter 6 Migrations to Parts Unknown and Completing the Flock
Chapter 7 Audubon at the Crossroads

Appendix: List of Exhibitions and Learned Society Memberships
Abbreviations and Short References
References
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This fresh look at the artistry of a great American painter and naturalist delivers delightful revelations with unrivaled authority. Outstanding!"

Richard Rhodes

"Today these masterful depictions, many including glimpses of the birds' surroundings and their habitual foods, are so well known that it's difficult to imagine how revolutionary they appeared when the first pages of The Birds of America were published nearly two centuries ago. In her new book, Audubon as Artist, Olson, curator emerita of Auduboniana at the New-York Historical Society, sketches out the historical context of that book, as well as explores how Audubon’s work overlapped with his life in various ways. . . . This book is part artistic biography and part social history, and generously illustrated throughout. It is a pleasure to tag along through this book as Audubon discovers the birds of America."

American Scientist (Annual Gift Guide)

"A beautiful and masterfully researched book that gives depth to this singular artist’s work. Not to mention it is a joy to flip through its many colorful pages."

Bookmunch

"Olson provides a refreshingly new look at The Birds of America from an art-historical perspective with a deep background on its creation. Thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and sumptuously illustrated, this is a book all Audubon enthusiasts will want to own."

Robert McCracken Peck

"Looking beyond an artist’s brushstrokes can shed fresh light on his inspiration. A new book digs deep into John James Audubon’s fascination with classical European art, which influenced his celebrated bird paintings. . . . No one has charted his possible artistic influences as thoroughly as Olson."

Christian Science Monitor - Danny Heitman

"An exquisitely illustrated book that offers a unique exploration of Audubon's artistic journey intertwined with the drama of his life, unveiling how he studied past and contemporary artists to forge something entirely innovative."

Carnegie Hill News

"Throughout the lively text, with accompanying color images, Olson situates Audubon among the artists of his time, pulling him into a lineage of oil painters, watercolorists and engravers. . . . Thorough, engaging. . . . Olson’s clarity of prose makes for quick reading, and despite the density of info she digs into, she never belabors her point nor moves too far from her stated purpose. The result is a crisp and enjoyably focused narrative. I closed the book wanting more, inspired to delve into the many books and texts listed under references and further reading. Audubon as Artist situates Audubon in a rightful place amid a lineage of artists, both historical and contemporary. He may have struggled to accept himself, but his glorious images have stood the test of time; his birds continue to captivate and inspire. Olson’s stylish book reminds us that no artist goes it alone—influence and connection are inherent to every artist’s life."

Newcity - Sara Rauch

"Audubon as Artist is a welcome contribution to the immense literature on John James Audubon (1785-1851) because it focuses on him as an artist, analysing his iconic paintings as both innovative advances in a long artistic tradition and simultaneously as major contributions to natural history."

Archives of Natural History

"In her sumptuous new book, Audubon as Artist, Olson not only celebrates that work but also anatomizes it, drawing genealogical, even cladistic connections between Audubon’s famous bird-illustrations and the traditions of Western art that came before him. . . . Audubon as Artist is amazingly alive with art of all kinds. . . . Paging through Olson’s book provides one imagination-stirring juxtaposition after another. . . . Of all the countless books that have been written about the man and his work, Audubon as Artist would have delighted Audubon the most."

Open Letters Review - Steve Donoghue

"There is no better guide to Audubon's avian universe than Olson. . . . Olson's new book delivers as complete an account of Audubon's development as an artist as we are likely to get. It also provides a fascinating glimpse into the workshop of his mind."

Art Newspaper

"As a museum curator in New York City, art historian Olson looked after 474 watercolours painted by John James Audubon for his classic book The Birds of America (1827-38). Gazing at his birds, she writes, 'one wonders whether they might momentarily fly off the page.' Glorious reproductions fill this intriguing book. She regards Audubon as an 'American Leonardo da Vinci,' fusing art and science, but focuses more on his art than his naturalism. A gripping self-portrait painted before he found success hints at Audubon’s difficult life."

Nature

"Olson's tour through Audubon's artistic universe, and the many influences that shaped it, matches the brilliance of Audubon's own visual journey through the American avian world. . . . Audubon as Artist is a milestone in the study not only of Audubon's art but of the history of art in general."

Master Drawings

"Olson deftly sketches a lively portrait of the man, hard at work procuring specimens to depict; sketching birds from life and death; working late into the night by oil lamplight. She gives us his rich inner life as well, as he exults at praise and crashes when critics try to douse his flame. . . . Olson’s refreshing observations on possible influences on Audubon’s art are a special delight."

Wall Street Journal - Julie Zickefoose

Audubon as Artist—as meticulously researched as it is spiritedly written—will completely revolutionize our understanding of Audubon's complicated legacy. Everyone seems to know Audubon these days; Olson, one of the leading art historians and museum curators working today, shows us how little we have in fact known. The first scholar to treat Audubon's desire to be admired both as an artist and an ornithologist with the seriousness it deserves, she elucidates the art that influenced him and the artistic techniques he cultivated to create what Cuvier rightly called the ‘greatest human monument to nature.’

Christoph Irmscher

Although so much has been written about Audubon, Olson brings new and fresh insights into the life and work of the artist-naturalist. In Audubon as Artist, with her customary scholarly flair she presents the reader with a detailed and fascinating outline of Audubon’s development as an artist and the art that influenced him. This richly illustrated book brilliantly demonstrates how his awareness of European, Asian and even Indian painting was integrated into his own unique art. Audubon as Artist clearly shows that Audubon was much more than an illustrator of birds—he was America’s first great watercolourist and should be placed firmly within a wider artistic tradition.

Mark Glancy

"At a time when even naturalists are now turning against Audubon, from the art-history side comes a welcome reminder of the painter’s achievement in Olson’s Audubon as Artist, cataloguing, for instance, the debts owed by Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Edward Lear, and sundry others to America’s first great watercolorist."

New Criterion - Robert Erickson

"The book is an exploration of Audubon’s artistic journey, intertwined with the drama of his life, revealing how he studied both past and contemporary artists to produce entirely innovative, outstanding works of fine art."

Princeton University's Department of Art & Archaeology Alumni News

"Olson excels at situating Audubon within the various settings he traversed and weaves a seemingly effortless line between his art and his life and inspiration. She does a magnificent job of illuminating Audubon’s life, work, and the world he inhabited and influenced. . . . Overall, Audubon as Artist is a stunning book that will benefit readers with an interest in the history of early America, the broad nineteenth-century Francophone world, art history, environmental history, and past and present conservation efforts."

H-Environment