Audubon, John James

views updated

John James Audubon

Born April 26, 1785

Les Cayes, Haiti

Died January 27, 1851

Illustrator and painter of North American birds

"Proud of its beautiful form, and prouder still of its power of flight, [the whooping crane] stalks over the withering grasses with all the majesty of a gallant chief. With long and measured steps he moves along, his head erect, his eye glistening with delight."

I n the early 1800s, most of the land that now makes up the United States had not yet been explored. What sort of landscape it contained—mountains? lakes? deserts?—could only be guessed at by European settlers on the East Coast. What animals and birds might make their homes there was also a mystery. The opportunity for ordinary people who might be interested in observing and describing the natural wonders of the continent was wide open; interested amateurs could make significant contributions to scientific knowledge of the region. That is exactly the opportunity that John James Audubon saw and seized. He captured the beauty of birds through his painting, contributing to the nation's understanding and appreciation of its rich wildlife in a series of paintings collectively called Birds of America.

A two-time immigrant at a tender age

John James Audubon was born in Haiti, an island in the Caribbean Sea. His father was a French naval officer and had made a fortune in Haiti as a merchant and planter. His Haitian mother, whom his father did not marry, died soon after his birth. Several years later, Audubon's father decided to return to France, and to the wife he had left there, taking his young son with him. Luckily for the boy, his stepmother was very lenient with him, perhaps more than was strictly good, and Audubon grew up in his new country rather spoiled and carefree.

As Audubon grew older, his father became concerned over his lack of useful education and took matters into his own hands. The young Audubon was sent for naval training, but he resisted learning anything. His father's next idea was to send him to Paris to study art; this did not last long and was also unsuccessful. Finally, in 1803, Audubon was sent to America to live on a farm his father owned near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The father's agent in charge of the farm could both look after him and guide him in the management of the property. So, at the age of eighteen, Audubon immigrated to his second foreign land.

A life's mission takes shape

Audubon was no better a student of farm management than he had been of anything else. He spent most of his time following his favorite pursuits—fishing, hunting, and drawing birds. It was around this time that he had the idea of inserting wires into the bodies of birds he had killed so that they could be posed in different ways for his sketches. He also made the first known "banding" experiment in America (see box). He tied silver thread to the legs of several baby birds. The following spring, two of these birds returned and nested near their birthplace. It was also during his period on the farm that he became engaged to a young neighbor, Lucy Bakewell.

The years from 1807 to about 1820 were a series of business failures for Audubon, perhaps, in part, because his heart was not in it. A move to Kentucky to operate a general store ended in the store's failure. He married Bakewell in 1808, but Audubon's fortunes did not improve. More business enterprises followed, but all ended in failure. Whether it was tending store or running a sawmill, Audubon could not buckle down and make it prosper. He would always spend more time hiking through the woods, sketching birds that he saw, than promoting his business ventures. At the end of this

Tracking Birds: Banding

Bird banding is an important tool for studying the movement, survival, and behavior of birds. Placing a band on a bird's leg makes it possible to study the life span, nesting habits, migration, and social structure of different species of birds. It is helpful in tracking population gains or declines.

The first record of banding a bird's leg is traced to the year 1595, when a falcon belonging to King Henry IV (1366–1413; reigned 1399–1413) of England was lost in France. The falcon had a metal band attached to its leg. The next day, the bird was discovered 1,350 miles away, on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.

A gray heron that had been banded by Duke Ferdinand (1610–1670) of Tuscany (Italy) in 1669 was found by his grandson in 1728, showing that the heron lived at least 60 years.

John James Audubon provided the first record of banding in North America. In 1803, he tied silver threads to the legs of some young phoebes (small grayish-brown birds) near Philadelphia. The next spring, several returned to the same area to nest.

In 1899, Hans Mortensen, a Danish school teacher, began a new system of banding, using aluminum rings inscribed with his name and address and placed on the legs of several birds of different species, including storks and hawks. In 1902, Paul Bartsch (1871–1970), a scientist whose hobby was the study of birds, organized the first scientific

banding in North America. One hundred black-crowned night herons in the District of Columbia were banded with metal strips inscribed "Return to Smithsonian Institution." This is the basic model followed ever since.

In the twenty-first century, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Canadian Wildlife Service work together on the North American Bird Banding Program to assure that all data from banded birds is recorded in a useful way and is available to share among scientists. There is also a Bird Banding Laboratory, which can give banders permission to use radio transmitters to track individual birds. Scientists are also beginning to use satellite transmitters on birds, so that they can be tracked anywhere on Earth.

period of his life, Audubon was bankrupt and was briefly jailed for debt. (In the nineteenth century, people who borrowed money and could not pay it back were often jailed, just as if they had stolen the money.)

He determined to forget about business as a likely pursuit, and he decided to try to earn money by drawing portraits. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that people would pay five dollars for a simple sketch of their own faces. However, the income was not steady enough to support a family. In 1820, he found work as a taxidermist in a new museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Taxidermists preserve animals for displays in museums.) Audubon found this skill useful when he painted birds. His paintings are so lifelike that it might seem as if he photographed birds while they were still alive, rather then painted them. In fact, Audubon preserved dead birds, with special techniques that he developed to preserve their lifelike poses.

Around this time it occurred to Audubon to publish the paintings of birds that he had been collecting in a book. Finally, his life made sense to him. His one sustaining and lasting interest was in his drawings of birds. Perhaps if he could build on this passion, it would lead to success. He began to take journeys specifically to explore for new birds for his collection. He traveled both the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, sketching all the while. In 1824, he was ready for the next big step.

Birds of America meets with success in Europe

Audubon began to actively search for someone to publish Birds in America. He met with some resistance. For one thing, friends of Alexander Wilson (1766–1813), another illustrator of birds, used their influence to block Audubon's attempt to publish a competing work. Audubon decided to follow advice he had been given to look for a publisher in Europe. By 1826, he had gathered enough money to make the journey overseas with his drawings.

Audubon received welcome and encouragement in Edinburgh, Scotland. Then it was on to London, where he reached an agreement with Robert Havell Jr. (1793–1878) for publication. The undertaking was much more complicated

than just printing and binding a book. Audubon supervised as Havell's men took the original drawings and printed and colored them. He also did his own promotional work, traveling, giving lectures, and holding exhibitions at which he would sell subscriptions for the completed work. Each subscriber received four title sheets, one for each of the projected volumes. Volume I held prints 1 to 100; volume II prints 101 to 200; volume III prints 201 to 300; volume IV prints 301 to 435. The prints were 40 inches by 30 inches, with each bird shown life-size and in its natural habitat. Although Audubon considered himself an artist, he also included an essay on each bird. Each essay contained a detailed description of its plumage, or feathers, and his observations on the bird's habitat, nest-building, and feeding habits. When complete and properly bound in leather, the full set weighed nearly two hundred pounds. The entire printing project took almost twelve years to complete. The first volume appeared in 1827 and the last volume in 1838.

At age fifty-three, Audubon was finally a success. Upon his return to the United States, he was proclaimed the country's leading naturalist, a scientist who studies the natural world of plants and animals.

[Image not available for copyright reasons]

The Audubon family moved to a 35-acre estate on the Hudson River in upper Manhattan, in New York City. Audubon's next bird project was already under way. It would be a smaller version of the Birds of America collection. Audubon undertook a journey to the southern states and Florida, still searching for new specimens to add to his work. On this trip, he met and befriended John Bachman (1790–1874). Bachman would become a useful partner, since he could provide a more scientific slant to balance Audubon's artistic contribution. The two men decided to begin work on a collection of American mammals. Audubon had completed about half of the drawings for this volume when his eyesight began to fail. As his health began to fail generally, he kept to himself on his estate. He was becoming senile, and a stroke made his condition worse.

When he died in 1851 he was not especially rich, except in reputation and acclaim. His work is still considered an impressive achievement, and it set the standard for depictions of wildlife. His legacy endures in the National Audubon Society, which works to protect birds and their natural habitats.

—James L. Outman

For More Information

Books

Audubon, John James. Audubon Reader: The Best Writings of John James Audubon. Edited by Scott R. Sanders. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986.

Brown, Colin, and Cyril Walker. John James Audubon: American Birds. New York: Gramercy, 1999.

Foshay, Ella M. John James Audubon. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1997.

Streshinsky, Shirley. Audubon: Life and Art in the American Wilderness. New York: Villard Books, 1993.

Periodicals

Gilbert, Bil. "An Odd Fish Who Swam Against the Tide." Smithsonian (January 1999): p. 112.

Grovier, Katherine, "Birds of Paradise: A New Edition of James Audubon's Work Illuminates a Lost Canadian World." Time International (January 25, 1999): p. 52.