The Impact of John James Audubon S Book on the History of Art

Brooke Bennett

Thesis Outline

10/20/2010

The Birds of America:

The Impact of John James Audubon’s Book on the History of Art,

Ornithology and Bird Watching in America.

My thesis will discuss why Audubon’s Birds of America was a crucial work in American history by looking at the impact of the book on three areas of American culture: art, the natural sciences, and bird watching. Though Birds of America contains 435 life-size portraits of nearly 500 species of birds, in my thesis I will select 3 to 5 images from Birds of America that I think are particularly impressive, and describe the works. Then, I will explain how these works illuminate the impact that Audubon had on art, ornithology and bird watching in America. (The order of in which I address the three areas of focus within my thesis is subject to change.)

Impact on the History of Art

This section will look at Audubon’s images from an art historical perspective.
Some questions I will answer are:
What was motivating Audubon artistically?
Why were Audubon’s works more popular than those of Alexander Wilson’s?
How were Audubon’s works different from other artists before, after, and during the period in which Birds of America was published (1827-1838)?
How were Audubon’s works similar to the works of other artists?
What role do the Birds of America images play in Audubon’s career as an artist? Are they similar to his other works? Are they different?
Why were the images from Birds of America often appreciated as individual pieces, while his the works of his predecessors were valued as entire books?
I will also address why these images remain popular today – why people still visit venues such as The Robert Frost Library at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts and The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California to see original productions of his works.
Why do people value seeing works in person instead of just copies of the works?
Are the works of modern ornithological illustrators as valued today as Audubon’s works were when they were created? Are modern illustrations valued as much today as Audubon’s Birds of America illustrations are?

Impact on Natural Sciences/ Ornithology

This section will look at the role of Audubon’s images in the context of Natural History and Ornithology in America.
Some questions I will answer are:
What is the history of ornithology in Europe?
How did birds shift from food objects to objects of scientific study to objects valued for their appeal? When did these transitions happen?
What is the history of ornithology in America?
When did ornithological books shift from catalogues of the names of species, to works that described the species and their scientific features in text, to works that portrayed images of the species along with text, to works that were only catalogues of images (e.g. Audubon’s Birds in America)? WHY did these changes occur?
What information did authors choose to include about the species in their books? What does the inclusion or exclusion of certain information reveal about the value of birds at the time the books were created?
Who were the first people to create ornithological books of American birds? What are similarities and differences between their works?
What technological advancements, in areas such as print making and taxidermy, impacted the production of ornithological books?
Who was buying the ornithological books? Who bought Birds in America?

Impact on Bird Watching

This section will look at the impact that Birds in America had on the hobby of bird watching
Some questions I will answer are:
When/ where did the hobby of bird watching begin?
Were Europeans more interested in traveling to foreign places to see exotic birds than they were in watching birds in their native countries?
Why were Americans interested in watching American birds?
What is the relationship between bird watching and bird collecting? Why do people (particularly 19th century Americans) collect objects (particularly birds)?
What is the relationship between bird watching and ornithological prints?
Why did people want to own birds as pets, particularly exotic species?
Why did people want to have taxidermy birds?
Why are people drawn to birds more than other species?
Why is bird watching still popular today? (It is the number one hobby in the United States in terms of dollars spent)
What other hobbies is bird watching related to?
How does people’s value of birds impact their value of nature?

For my senior seminar, I will focus on the section of my thesis that addresses the impact of Birds of America on ornithology.

- I will describe how “American Ornithology” as it is known today is the result of hundreds of years of cultural, technical, and scientific developments.

- I will also show how the Audubon images that I have selected from Birds in America fit into the historical narrative of “American Ornithology.”

Description of the first “ornithologists” in Europe
Look at what information authors chose to include about species
Note similarities and differences between the ornithologists’ works  use works in the Archives and Special Collections library
Description of first people to make ornithological observations/books about American species of birds in Europe
Hard to categorize new American species in terms of known European species
Historians: Ealeazar Albin, George Edwards and Thomas Pennant
Naturalists: Louis Jean Pierre Viellot, George-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon, Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton
Ornithologists: John Ray, Mark Catesby, Linneaus, Benjamin Smith Barton
First Americans to make ornithological books about American birds
William Bartram, Timothy Dwight, Alexander Wilson, John James Audubon, and more
Describe the transition of birds from food objects to objects of scientific study to objects valued for their appeal and how these transitions are reflected in changes in ornithological works
Describe how ornithological books shifted from catalogues of the names of species, to works that described the species and their scientific features in text, to works that portrayed images of the species along with text, to works that were only catalogues of images
Describe how technological advancements, in areas such as print making and taxidermy, impacted the production of ornithological books
Talk about the wealthy people buying Audubon’s Birds in America
Discuss the popularity of ornithology today

Since many of the questions I will answer in this section overlap, the order is subject to change, but all ideas will be addressed.

Below is a list of the books by Audubon that are in the Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College. I will not only compare the works in Birds of America to Audubon’s other works, but also to other ornithological works Present in the Soffer Ornithology Collection.

(Audubon, J. J.) North American Review. The North American Review / Vol. XXXIV....
Audubon, John James (1785-1851). The birds of America from drawings made in the United States and their territories No. 30.
Audubon, John James (1785-1851). The birds of America from drawings made in the United States and their territories No. 59.
Audubon Society (Brooks, Allan [1869-1945]). Audubon bird cards Fifty winter (spring, summer) birds of eastern North America.
Audubon, John James (1785-1851) (Irmscher, Christoph, compiler and editor). John James Audubon writings and drawings.
Audubon, John James (1785-1851)(Forkner, B. editor) The John James Audubon portfolio
Audubon, John James (1785-1851)(introduction by Marshall B. Davidson). The original water-color paintings by John James Audubon for The birds of America.
Audubon, John James (Laforest)(1785-1851). The birds of America, from drawings made in the United States and their territories.
Audubon, John James (1785-1851). My style of drawing birds.
Audubon, John James (Laforest)(1785-1851). A synopsis of the bird of North America.
(Audubon, John James [1785-1851]). Grande pie grieche grise buff...