Review: Audubon's Birds of America at Compton Varney

Last week I was very pleased to preview the new exhibition of John James Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ at Compton Verney for two reasons:

• I've always wanted to see "Birds of America" 'for real' as opposed to images online - to see if it is as impressive as it's always appeared to me to be
• I'd never visited Compton Verney before mainly because of the queries about 'so exactly how do I get there?'

The overall exhibition is a critical examination of both the man and his artwork and its historical context.

My conclusion upfront is that this is the sort of exhibition that you might only get to see once in your lifetime. 

It's also a truly monumental book in more ways than one! Not only do you get to see the original hand coloured engravings but you also learn about the man. 

The presentation of both the artwork and associated information and relevant material - letters, books, manuscripts, photography, projections and films - is of a very high quality and my congratulations to those who conceived and created this exhibition.

This is a very impressive exhibition

So be sure to visit if birds and/or the art of natural history interests you. "The art of making money from a big project" is a subsidiary but also very interesting part of the exhibition.

This is therefore.....

A review of the exhibition - focusing on the different aspects I became aware of while visiting and viewing the exhibition

What is 'Birds of America'?

• The book
• The birds
• The artwork
• The exhibition

Who is John James Audubon?

• The man - who is John James Audubon
• The artist as businessman

PLUS the answer to the travel logistics issue!

and an extra exhibition about birds by Quentin Blake

But first.....

What is "Birds of America"? 

I'm going to focus on the first four themes in this section.

The Book

There are only 120 complete copies of "Birds of America" in existence. It is a landmark and truly monumental publication which is now very valuable. Most copies are in national collections or institutions and the rest are owned by very rich people. 

Private copies sell for millions of dollars. Below is the result of the sale of Lord Hesketh's copy in 2010. (Also see Audubon's Birds of America: The world's most expensive book | BBC)

A first-edition print of The Birds of America by ornithologist John James Audubon, was auctioned at Sotheby’s auction house in London, England on December 6, 2010, and sold for a record £7,321,250 ($13.8 million) price tag.

This exhibition is based on an incomplete copy owned by the National Museums Scotland. It's incomplete because the Museum unfortunately let the subscription lapse!

A complete copy includes 435 hand-coloured engravings based on the original watercolour paintings created by John James Audubon.

The Birds

Audubon aimed to paint every bird in America. Whether he achieved this or not depends on what is known about all the birds in America in the early 1800s when he was researching and painting.

At the time he managed to paint and produce engraved and hand-coloured prints for 435 different birds. There may have been more but his original watercolours have disappeared as have all but some 70 odd of the engraving plates.

What we do know is that some of the birds he painted are now extinct.

The Exhibition

The exhibition is on tour from National Museums Scotland where it was first exhibited between February and May 2022. I gather it was another of those exhibitions that got caught by Covid. The exhibition is based on an incomplete edition of Birds of America owned by the National Museums Scotland.

The display of the exhibition at Compton Verney continues until 1st October 2023. 

It's not yet known whether and where the exhibition may be seen after this but I gather the aim is to generate a tour of the UK.

In terms of the exhibition - it's very impressive and impactful. It's a mix of hand coloured prints, books and  artefacts plus very informative information at points throughout the exhibition and the presentation is extremely well thought through and executed.

View from one room into the next - which contains the Scottish copy of the book.

The Artwork

Audubon is said to have learned his painting from Davide while in France - but that could just be a story. What is certainly true is he was an excellent draughtsman and he really knew a lot about design and composition. We don't know how good his painting was since none of his originals exist - but the fact he was able to make an income from his art suggests it was good.

He only painted from bird specimens he hunted and killed and then pinned to a board in the pose he wanted to paint. He always posed the bird "as if" in life and the naturalness of this comes through in his images. 

The original artwork was drawn and then painted in watercolour (much as the botanical artists had worked over time - in producing artwork for similar large projects and books). 

[The watercolour paintings were sold by his widow in 1863 to the New York Historical Society after his family became impoverished following his death. The NYHS have mounted three exhibitions of the Watercolours of John James Audubon (see The watercolours of John James Audubon, a “once-in-a-lifetime” exhibition | The Guardian) and the National Gallery of Art in America had an exhibition in 1993 John James Audubon: The Watercolors for The Birds of America)]

All the artwork in this show are engravings - and most are hand-coloured. These represent the artwork available to subscribers to his project. Audubon worked very closely with the engravers and the colourists who did the hand colouring. Below you can see an example of the before and after.

I loved the juxtaposition of the before and after
(top) Original engraving 
(bottom) Hand coloured print

The design and composition of his artwork is absolutely impeccable. 

There are some amazing large images of large birds - some of which are very much red in tooth and claw. He doesn't duck how they fed and there's a few examples of bunnies in claws....

Golden Eagle - and bunny!

Many of the smaller paintings show the smaller birds from top and underneath - but it’s entirely natural and you only notice after a bit that he’s produced an illustration which is actually very scientific.

The Long Sparrow - from above and below

Who is John James Audubon (1785–1851)? 

Audubon is an American painter-naturalist and he reminds me very much in some ways of Maria Sibylla Merian - a 17th century Botanical and Natural History Illustrator who was the first to record metamorphosis in Surinam. (see my dedicated page about her About Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717).) 

Both were artists who were:

• interested in nature and had clear goals about their work
• prepared to travel long distances to be able to paint from real specimens
• involved their family in the output and logistics of producing artwork.

The man and the artist

Audubon was and is a controversial figure. Many of his practices were criticised by the naturalist community and he profited from the ownership of enslaved people during his lifetime.

He appears to have been somewhat embarrassed about his background. He was born in what is now Haiti and was the son of a French sea captain and his mistress who was probably a chambermaid. There are some suggestions he may have been mixed race.  He was brought up in France and moved to the USA in 1803 - to avoid conscription in Napolean's army. 

Initially he lived as a naturalist, hunter and taxidermist and also earned money from drawing and portraits.

What's unique about him at this time is his interests in both art and ornithology.

He is a man of contradictions

• He owned slaves and was dismissive of abolitionists but also took money from abolitionists
• He is regarded as a conservationist - but he also killed birds
• He is described as a scientist - but he sometimes got the scientific facts wrong i.e. birds he illustrated have not been found described by anybody else and now thought to be probably juveniles. Some suggest that he indulged in a lot of misconduct.

He also created myths about himself in order to be able to sell his work to his target audience. 

He focused on making money as well as creating art and bought an estate in upstate New York with money he made - but after he died his family became impoverished.

He was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Linnean Society, and the Royal Society in recognition of his contributions.  A significant number of places in the USA have been named after him.

The business man

The exhibition tells the story of how his project was developed.

It's very clear that Audubon was a man with "one big idea" - of combining his joint interest in art and ornithology into a major project of painting portraits of all the birds in America - which he then pursued over many years and much travelling 

He was VERY focused on monetisation of his art. 

• He has a subscription plan. 
• He also has the bright idea of having that a notion that since he’s finding new birds, those who have been kind to him might have their name used in the new bird's name when he discovers them

However he was unable to find a publisher for this work in America and came to the UK in 1826 to find one. Which is when he found the London engraving and publishing firm of Robert Havell and Son 

In order to make his artwork distinctive he created several very large illustrations of birds of America. When it came to the printing he worked on elephant sheets of paper for printing the large images - only produced by two paper companies at the time.

The production line was supported by the family firm - he was helped by his wife and two sons; one of the sons was his agent. They were very strict about the work being copied - sending out legal letters to those who do even when it’s a small version - one of which is included in the exhibition.

Overall, he succeeded better in UK rather than USA - possibly because the scientific academic community at that time was more well established in the UK eg the existence of the Linnaean Society focused on natural history.

A Partner Show: Two Bird Exhibitions for One Visit!

There is another show on at the same time Quentin Blake, Birds, Beasts and Explorers. Basically another exhibition with a lot of birds - but maybe rather more suitable for a younger audience.

It's interesting to see his illustrations for various books up close and marked up for cropping!

Compton Verney: Travel Logistics

This is the address: Compton Verney, Warwickshire, CV35 9HZ

Our location on What3Words is precluded.shunted.likewise

It's not easy - but not impossible. It's a very doable day trip from London.

TRAIN

I can only speak for those travelling from London

• you need to get a Chiltern Railways train from Marylebone Railway Station to Banbury Station. The journey is pretty speedy.
• you then need to get a taxi to Compton Verney. I don't know what the cost might be but the taxi ride takes about 25 minutes - so not cheap. Maybe best to go with friends so you can share the cost of the taxi?

Apparently Leamington Spa or Stratford-upon-Avon are alternative stations for those travelling from elsewhere.

ROAD

Compton Verney is situated 9 miles east of Stratford-upon-Avon on the B4086 between Wellesbourne and Kineton and is 6 miles drive from the M40, Junction 12 and follow brown signs marked for Compton Verney.

You can find out more on https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/plan-your-visit/find-us/