Beautiful, Timeless and Fascinating
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| Roseatte Spoonbill |
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| Soetheby's NY 2012 |
Every year I have the privilege of previewing the Important Americana Auctions at Christies and Soetheby's in New York with the guides from Winterthur Museum.
This year I was captivated by this amazing pair of Audubon' prints at Soetheby's. Dramatic, vibrant and overwhelmingly beautiful. (Mr. Keno was captivating as well!)
The two exceeded their auction estimates and sold for $122,500 (the American Flamingo) and $43,750 (Hooping Crane)
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| Christie's NY 2012 |
Across town Christies' featured the complete John James Audubon's Birds of America The Duke of Portland Set. The complete, beautifully bound folios created quite the stir.
Incredible to see first hand, but a bit out of my price range, the set sold for a whopping $7,922,500.
Anxious to refresh my knowledge of the artist, I pulled out my copy of Ella M Foshay's John James Audubon and my copy of Birds of America. ( Alas, mine is not worth $7,000,000.)
In an nutshell, John James Audubon (1785-1851) came to America from France as a young man. An ornithologist, naturalist and painter, he set out to illustrate the birds of the new world. Most of his works were drawn from life during his travels through North America. Noted for their scientific accuracy and their depictions of the birds in their natural surroundings, these images are both beautiful and powerful.
The man himself, is a fascinating story of frontier naturalist and audacious self promoter.
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| J.J. Audubon by John Syme 1826 |
Back in the real world, I stumbled upon a source for very affordable modern Audubon prints for the rest of us.
Although I can be a purist and poo poo reproductions, my very clever son pointed out that, with the exception of the original water colors, all Audubon prints are reproductions and the artist himself created them with mass production in mind.
Quandary solved. As you can see from the photos in my shop, these prints are stunning, command attention and transcend the mere scientific representation of wildlife.
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| Louisiana Heron |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| American Flamingo |