GE Assignment Rough Draft- John James Audubon
John James Audubon was quite remarkable. When he was 18 years old, he moved away from France and came to America. He moved to America not only to avoid getting drafted into the Army but to keep his father’s business running. He married a woman named Lucy Bakewell and had two sons and two daughters. Sadly, both of his daughters died really young.
John was famous for his notorious collection of bird paintings called The Birds of America. Not only was he a painter he was also an ornithologist, which makes sense why his art collection of birds was so vast. He managed to bring science and art together and discovered many new species of birds that hadn’t been documented before. He had such a fascination for birds, according to the documentary I watched on John James Audubon he would even dream about birds. He managed to capture these birds in their natural habitat, hunt them, then draw and paint them the way he remembered and might have added a little extra drama to some of his work.
During times when the economy wasn’t doing so great John had to make his money on commission by going house to house and painting for people. He had many jobs over the years, he would paint portraits etc. he worked as at a museum he was hired to help with the displays and worked as a taxidermist. Working at the museum allowed him to be able to display some of his own work and this is where he received his first recognition, he also taught art classes. He really focused on the natural sciences throughout his life and managed to paint all sorts of things but what really motivated him were the birds.
He decided he wanted to travel and continue with his documenting the birds of America. So, he set off on this journey with his 13-year-old assistant (former student) named Joseph Mason that helped him draw the backgrounds for his birds. This boy traveled with John from Cincinnati to New Orleans and he was good at drawing tree branches and limbs. The method John used to document The Birds of America is first he would observe them, then he would hunt them. After hunting the birds, he used a method known as bird banding where he would use wire to prop the deceased birds up into the life like positions he had observed, for him to draw. Joseph Mason would draw the background including branches trees bushes, then John would paint the birds with watercolor by layering and layering.
Some of his work is displayed in the New York Historical Society-has all but 2 (according to the documentary) of his original watercolor works of birds of America, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. as well as the Darwin Museum in Moscow.
References:
https://johnjames.audubon.org/john-james-audubon-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIpv4zdr1Jc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m052VV18wiM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQijoWmzvTo&t=372s