| Title |
Cedar Bird |
| Creator |
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851 |
| Room Number |
2756 |
| Description |
Probably a copy of an Audubon print, Plate XLIII (43). |
| Collection Name |
Marriott Library Permanent Art Collection |
| About the Artist |
"Audubon was born in Saint Domingue (now Haiti), the illegitimate son of a French sea captain and plantation owner and his French mistress. Early on, he was raised by his stepmother, Mrs. Audubon, in Nantes, France, and took a lively interest in birds, nature, drawing, and music. In 1803, at the age of 18, he was sent to America, in part to escape conscription into the Emperor Napoleon's army. He lived on the family-owned estate at Mill Grove, near Philadelphia, where he hunted, studied and drew birds, and met his wife, Lucy Bakewell. While there, he conducted the first known bird-banding experiment in North America, tying strings around the legs of Eastern Phoebes; he learned that the birds returned to the very same nesting sites each year. The last print was issued in 1838, by which time Audubon had achieved fame and a modest degree of comfort, traveled this country several more times in search of birds, and settled in New York City. He made one more trip out West in 1843, the basis for his final work of mammals, the Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, which was largely completed by his sons and the text of which was written by his long-time friend, the Lutheran pastor John Bachman (whose daughters married Audubon's sons). Audubon spent his last years in senility and died at age 65. He is buried in the Trinity Cemetery at 155th Street and Broadway in New York City." From http://www.audubon.org/john-james-audubon |
| About the Art |
"For a time Audubon made crayon portraits (drawings of individual people) for $5 per portrait. Then he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became a taxidermist (one who stuffs and mounts the skins of animals) in the Western Museum that had been recently founded by Dr. Daniel Drake. In 1820 the possibility of publishing his bird drawings occurred to him. He set out down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, exploring the country for new birds and paying his expenses by painting portraits. For a while he supported himself in New Orleans by tutoring and painting. His wife also worked as a tutor and later opened a school for girls. She became the family's main financial support while Audubon focused on publishing his drawings. In 1824 Audubon went to Philadelphia to seek a publisher. He met with opposition, however, from the friends of Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), the other major American ornithologist with whom Audubon had begun a bitter rivalry in 1810. He finally decided to raise the money for a trip to Europe, where he felt he would find greater interest in his drawings. He arrived in Liverpool, England, in 1826, then moved on to Edinburgh, Scotland, and to London, England, signing up subscribers for his volumes in each city. Audubon finally reached an agreement with a London publisher, and in 1827 volumes of Birds of America began to appear. It took eleven years in all for the publication and reprintings of all the volumes. The success of Audubon's bird drawings brought him immediate fame, and by 1831 he was considered the leading naturalist of his country, despite the fact that he possessed no formal scientific training. There was an intense popular interest in the marvels of nature during this era. Anyone who could capture the natural beauty of wild specimens was certain to take his place among the front ranks of those recognized as "men of science." Audubon had succeeded in giving the world the first great collection of American birds, drawn in their natural habitats as close to nature as possible." From: http://www.notablebiographies.com |
| Subject |
Cedar waxwings; Passeriformes; Art museums--Utah; University of Utah. Libraries--Art |
| Date |
1826; 1827; 1828; 1829; 1830; 1831; 1832; 1833; 1834; 1835; 1836; 1837; 1838 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Medium |
Print |
| Height Framed |
24.75 inches |
| Width, Framed |
19.00 inches |
| Height Unframed |
15.25 inches |
| Width Unframed |
10.25 inches |
| Depth (3D Objects) |
N/A |
| Signature Location |
Bottom Center |
| Library Number |
No Number [19] |
| Rights |
 |
| Digitization Specifications |
JPEG2000 image for display, Archival tiff generated by Photoshop. Original image captured by Photoshop. Original image captured with Nikon D300s at 12.3 megapixels |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Type |
Image/StillImage |
| Identifier |
index.cpd |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s6rj4k80 |
| Setname |
uum_mlpac |
| ID |
235423 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6rj4k80 |
