Last week I was in New York City and did the mad dash to many galleries in two days to see as many things as I could. The Audubon exhibit was not necessarily on the top of my list but without a doubt, I came away with the most inspiration for my work.
When I was teaching high school I always did a unit on Nature drawing and featured Audubon. His personal story is so engaging and the compositions are so dynamic I knew the kids would be impressed. Because I am now doing a variation on nature studies myself, I wanted to see the actual paintings instead of the reproductions I have experienced over the years. The New York Historical Society has put on a wonderful exhibit featuring; his original work, an example of the elephant folio, early drawings and paintings showing his development, and personal letters to his long suffering wife, Lucy. If you do not know Audubon's biography I highly recommend reading the saga of this flamboyant and massively talented man. The paintings took my breath away. He is an absolute master of his media and there is no way to see that except from close observation.
(The exhibit provides magnifying glasses as well as audio sets!)
On the labels are listed: "pastel, chalk, graphite, ink, watercolor and gouache, with selective glazing techniques." He manages to combine these elements seamlessly and with great panache. Each area of the painting requires a different set of techniques to get a full sense of texture and the innate quality of what is represented. Most artists know how long it takes to get a feeling of mastery over one media. To have such skill is stunning.
One gallery has examples of his early work, when he was learning his technique and getting to know the birds themselves, albeit in a sad way. The gallery also showed a mock up of his set up so Audubon could pose his specimens in exciting compositions. On a gridded board, Audubon pinned his specimen and then sequentially add the bird in different positions to his overall composition. Hopefully he was able to use just one but unfortunatly we know vast numbers of birds and animals were sacrificed to the early naturalists.
One of the surprising things I saw was his inclusion of birds that were cut out, and then glued to his work. Nice to know he could not do it all in one go or changed his mind about placement.
Here are some other examples of his mastery.
The wing feathers are gracefully and precisely done in ink, on top of the darker surface which appears to be charcoal or pastel; a beautiful soft/hard contrast. And look at those gorgeous necks!
The pink fungus on the bark is as beautifully rendered as these birds.
He shows us every angle with the blush of the under feathers as a perfect compliment.
The delicate graphite lines of the spider web are just right and that bird seems delighted to be about to enjoy a tasty bite. ( I highly recommend zooming to get a better look at the birds face)
Whether small or large, Audubon seems to give each bird its own personality and unique presence.
This is a detail from one of the most impressive of Audubon's compositions. ( All these birds are painted life size! ) The beauty and tragedy of nature in great emphatic and empathic detail.
And this was one of my favorites. The expression on the owls face and the softness of his beautiful feathers makes us wonder at the mystery of the world and the ability of the artist to express it in ways that are so incredibly moving.
You can see any of the resulting print images from these paintings from a number of web sites.
I just went back to look at this after I read your latest post. This looks wonderful - wish I could have seen the show!
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