Beyond Impressionism: The Naturalist Impulse

Book Description

John James Audubon came to America as a dapper eighteen-year-old eager to make his fortune. He had a talent for drawing and an interest in birds, and he would spend the next thirty-five years traveling to the remotest regions of his new country–often alone and on foot–to render his avian subjects on paper. The works of art he created gave the world its idea of America. They gave America its idea of itself.

Here Richard Rhodes vividly depicts Audubon’s life and career: his epic wanderings; his quest to portray birds in a lifelike way; his long, anguished separations from his adored wife; his ambivalent witness to the vanishing of the wilderness. John James Audubon: The Making of an American is a magnificent achievement.

Customer Reviews:

Tenacity Incarnate.......2007-06-19

In its own way, this book reveals as much about the early 'natural history' years of the nation's founding as "Roots" does about early 'social history' years of Americans' tangled involvement with its imported slave population. Just as a national audience sat transfixed before TV sets watching a human drama unfold, so too, a reader following Audubon's manic treks back and forth from the East Coast to Louisiana to capture and sketch American birds, and his inspired obsession develop and finance a folio of ornithological plates by selling subscriptions in England, would marvel first at his tenacity, second at his self-awareness, and finally recognize that we live in a much less fecund animal world than the one he captured.

Audubon was an innovator of the first rank, in devising a systematic methodology (wire-frame supports) for accurately posing the bird in its natural setting, and a keen observer of the world he was both illustrating and helping to eradicate. Throughout his collecting and drafting career, he noted the transformations of habitats and ranges, and recognized that the 'natural' world he knew would look very different after his death. Large-scale conversion of woodlands to other uses, and the relentless pressure of colonization, exerted a profound impact on the distribution and range of avian species, and Audubon watched it happen in real time. His descriptions of the 'bird counts' he conducted tell the story. Repeatedly, he describes flocks that 'blacken the sky' - something we'll never see today.

Rhodes' biography is exhaustive, and a review should note that there is quite a bit of superfluous detail brought into the description of his early years. Furthermore, Rhodes in this effort did not turn out to be a great prose stylist, so some serious editing for length would have helped. Those criticisms aside, the Rhodes biography succeeds in bringing to life a vanished world, one in which colonists, pioneers and settlers were surrounded by 'wild nature,' and most of the people could actually name the animals (and birds) they saw!

Fascinating, Encyclopedic Study of Audubon and Early America.......2007-03-31

In the tradition of the great biographers, Rhodes leaves no stone unturned in his exploration of this remarkable fellow. The author carries us through the journey of the quintessential self-made man as he comes into maturity with his new country, the United States.
This is a study of a man, not an ornithological treatise. We all have seen the beautiful portraits of birds (terrific color plates in the paperback edition I have) and, through Rhodes efforts, discover Audubon's ingenuity in rendering them with the sort of lifelike quality he hoped to achieve. He earned his passage on many early excursions as the boat's hunter and trapper requiring lone forays into the hinterland. He clearly absorbed everything in his environment while he was making his way. His love for wildlife extended beyond avian society to all flora and fauna contained in the natural environment. He painted other animals and plants, as well. In his waning years, he executed a series of North American mammals with his sons. He had hoped to do much more.
Audubon's history is entwined with early America. He surely enjoyed his notoriety in European courts but always longed for his wild territory. In his later years (he died a decade before the Civil War), his assessment of the burgeoning nation was that it was becoming too crowded, overpopulated; ruined. THAT America was gone before Audubon died but Mr. Rhodes allows us an almost palpable glimpse at it as he illuminates one of it's most colorful citizens. Who would be a better guide into the young U.S. than this great naturalist, so skillfully revealed by this delightful writer?

Excellent book not just for birdwatchers!.......2007-01-22

If you want to really gain a great deal of insight into the forming of the American Frontier...read this book! It is really far more about that than it is about JJ Audobon although he is a very interesting character all by himself. A fascinating person at a fascinating time in history. I highly recommend it.

James James Audubon: The Father of American Ornithology chronicled in a fine biography by Richard Rhodes.......2007-01-21

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was born illegitimate in what is today the nation of Hati. He grew up in Nantes but his father sent him to Pennsylvania as a way to escape service in the army of Revolutionary France. Audubon came from a prosperous family and lived on a Pennyslvania farm owned by his family. He wed Lucy Bakewell an English girl who had immigrated to the United States from England.
The biography tells how Audubon operated a mill in Henderson,Ky. which went bankrupt. He was a constant traveler in the eastern United States drawing his beloved birds. Audubon traveled widely in Europe seeking to sell his lifework "The Birds of North America." Along the way he became famous meeting President Andrew Jackson; his literary idol Sir Walter Scott and being the second American to become a member of the Royal Society. Audubon was a complex man who loved America becoming a naturalized citizen. He was generally kind but could become volatile. Late in life he enjoyed drinking and profanity.
Audubon's life with Lucy was a great love story. His constant travel did put a strain on the marriage. His two surviving children were John and Victor. Audubon loved his family and was faithful to his wife.
Audubon pioneered painting birds in their natural habitat. His monumental "Birds of North America" shows him to be a supreme artist.
Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Rhodes quotes several journal entries and letters sent by Audubon during his lifetime. The book is well illustrated containing a section of beautiful Audubon prints.
This was a very interesting book for me and for anyone interested in
American history; art; ornithology and pioneer life. Recommended.

Unlikely Genius .......2006-10-25

My wife and I happened upon a complete 'Birds of America' exhibit at the National Gallery last year. I was mesmerized at the loving care put into these paintings and the exquisite variety of birds in America. Who was this artist, Audubon? I had seen greeting cards with his pictures and had heard of the Audubon Society, but who was he?

Audubon was self-taught immigrant from France who went into business on the frontier and failed at it because of the fragility of the economy and all the fits-and-starts associated with a new country. His avocation was painting birds, something he did in his spare time. Finally, he decided that it was what he was best at and the most likely means of supporting his family. At great personal cost and inconvenience, he spent lots of time away from his family to document these birds, both in picture, and in observation of their habits. He became the leading naturalist in the world for birds, came to meet President Andrew Jackson, the King of England, and was feted wherever he went, after he was established. He came out of nowhere to become an international celebrity.

Richard Rhodes does a remarkable job of piecing the story together. He was able to do so in large measure because Audubon spent so much time away and had to write to keep in touch. By the way, he barely kept his family together during these absences because of frequent miscommunications back and forth, partly because English was his second language. Rhodes won the Pulitzer Prize for 'The Making of the Atom Bomb', which I also read and found superb. 'Audubon' and 'The Making of the Atom Bomb' are remarkably different in subject matter, but both are handled with the same care that Audubon put into his painting.

A side benefit of this book is the chance to explore the early U.S. by living with Audubon and his family: the people he knew, the cities he went to, and especially the wilds where he painted (which were disappearing even in the early 19th century).

He was an ardent American, and transferred his citizenship at first opportunity when he got here as a young man in the early 1800's. He loved this country, as well as the birds he painted, and it shows.

I recommend reading this book while sitting at a computer so that you can access Google images of what is being discussed. It's a truly fascinating and worthy story, and the paintings are phenomenal.

Average customer rating:

interesting and most charming book

Painter as Naturalist
Madeleine Pinault
Manufacturer: Flammarion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 2080135163
Release Date: 1991-12-01

Customer Reviews:

interesting and most charming book.......1999-10-29

I was very pleased by this book

The Horn Island Logs of Walter Inglis Anderson (Mississippi Art Series)

Average customer rating:

Illuminating but gets old quick
A Wonderful Look Into a Complex Artist

The Horn Island Logs of Walter Inglis Anderson (Mississippi Art Series)
Walter Inglis Anderson
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0878051686

Customer Reviews:

Illuminating but gets old quick.......2000-11-26

Walter Anderson was an extremely unique and interesting fellow. After hearing about him, I wanted to see some of his paintings and read more about him. The book has many color plates which will give you more than a feel for his style. The introductory chapter provides a nice biography and is in large measure an essay on his artistic style and philosophy, as viewed by Redding Sugg, jr. The bulk of the book, (pages 38 to 236)are transcribed log entries by the artist himself. I am glad that what was included was included, but after about the 100th page of "today I saw a duck. A boat went by. I drew a Pelican. The wind was blowing.....", it gets a bit boring. Still, I wanted to learn about this guy and I feel that, having read the book, I have done so.

A Wonderful Look Into a Complex Artist.......2000-06-14

I have been interested in Walter Inglis Anderson since I first saw some of his stunning watercolors and woodcuts. This book allows the reader to see the world through his eyes and to experience with him the wonders of nature. It records the time he spent living, sans shelter other than his overturned rowboat, on Horn Island, an island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Anyone who loves Anderson's work (and if you've not seen it, you should) will love this chance to delve into his philosophies and insights as he tries to capture the world around him perfectly through pen, ink, and watercolor.

Audubon: Life and Art in the American Wilderness

Average customer rating:

Birdman of the 1800's
..an Albatross is funniest bird-see why--
enjoyable as a story even for the non bird-lover
A Book that Sould Have Been Better
Birder's delight

Audubon: Life and Art in the American Wilderness
Shirley Streshinsky
Manufacturer: University of Georgia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Amazon.com

Born Jean Rabin in France, John James Audubon made a name for himself in the New World almost in spite of himself. A failure at business, a footloose and difficult man, he perpetually fought off poverty to establish himself as a painter of America's fabulously varied wildlife. (To support himself while gathering the materials for his famous Birds of America, he painted portraits of New Orleans society ladies.) In this thoroughly researched and well-written biography, Shirley Streshinsky supplies little-known details about Audubon's early years and later tribulations, which were rewarded late in his life by widespread fame and the recognition of his singular contributions to early American science.

Customer Reviews:

Birdman of the 1800's.......2006-07-20

The author did alot of research on the subject and it shows in a great book on the life of James Audubon. It is a great story of American life in the early 1800's and Europe. The hardships this family went through to publish one of the worlds greatest books on birds. The love and support that a wife gave her husband and his sons that followed in his footsteps.

..an Albatross is funniest bird-see why--.......2001-03-20

For latest on ornithology- see her 8 page article in Apr. 2001 American Heritage Magazine...Shirley visited birds on Midway Island,now a refuge in Pacific. On the Wings of Victory..also memorial to sea battle won by US Navy.

enjoyable as a story even for the non bird-lover.......2000-09-23

I agree that this book is indeed over-written and reads at time like a class assignment; the author simply ticking off facts without much coherent thesis. However, this recital does bring off a charming story interesting enough to hold the attention of the casual historian with only a passing interest in wildlife. For anyone wishing to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the American wilderness and the struggles of the early settlers, it is a pleasure. Just skip over the boring bits!

A Book that Sould Have Been Better.......2000-07-09

Shirley Streshinsky, the author of "Audubon," makes several mistakes common to authors, especially authors of biographies. A good editor at The University of Georgia Press could have and should have helped the author overcome these problems.

The book--over 400 pages--is over-written. It would have been far more interesting and readable if the manuscript had been trimmed by a third. The author, having done extensive research to gather hard-won facts, succumbed to the comon temptation of using facts because she had them.

The result is that what should be the theme and focus of the book is often buried in tedious and repetitious detail about travel plans, for example.

Here is a man of amazing genius. Able to things with his pastels and paints and pens that no one has ever been able to match. A facinating, driven man. Arrogant. Egotistical. Tireless. Obsessed. Willing to suffer every hardship, and sacrifice himself, his wife and sons, financial security, friendships his comfort and health--everything to achieve the single-minded purpose of producing the best, most complete pictures and words about America's birds.

All of this is covered in this book, but it is often buried under a so much minutia that the reader may lose focus of this brilliant man who accomplished so much with so little.

Another mistake the author and publisher make is to assume the reader has knowledge which the average reader may or may not have. Much of the book is about Audubon's extensive travels in the U.S. and Europe to sell subscriptions. But as near as I can tell from my careful reading, we are never told exactly what it is Audubon is selling subscriptions to.

We are told repeatedly about double-elephant folios, apparetly an over-sized paper for presenting Audubons's illustrations, but nowhere is a double-elephant filio described or defined.

Same goes for subscriptions to "the new octavo edition." What exactly is an octavo edition?

There is lots of discussion of the work of engravers, colorists, lithographers. But specifically what are these craftsmen doing? We are never told exactly. Whatever it is it apparently involves dozens of craftsmen working full time for years. Are they copying by hand Audubon's drawings onto metal plates? If so, how much of what we see is the faithful work of Audubon, and how much the art of engravers, colorists, lithographers?

You had better have a good memory for names as you read this book, or else makes notes as each of the dozens of new characters in the story are introduced. People brought into the story early often appear later with no reminders of who it is being talked about. The author remembers; the readers may not.

There is a section of illustrations in the book, all in black and white, all but one of people and places. Amazingly there is only one example of Audubon's brilliant artwork--a black and white sketch, unquestionably originally in color, of "A Robin Perched on a Mossy Stone." How can a book be presented about Audubon without including color examples of his brilliant work?

I was seriously disappointed by this book.

Birder's delight.......1997-07-19

Reading this book is like living along side this great, self-made naturalist during his many ups and downs. Credit the author for taking us through his struggling ``mercantile'' years before he learned of his purpose. We meet the wife, Lucy, in full. We suffer her angst while he's off in Europe making a future. Any bird watcher naturally will be thrilled by the story but so too would any lover of the American dream, which is what Audubon lived. The one drawback was the lack of any of his portfolio drawings. Telling of the creation of Audubon's ``Birds of America'' without showing even a snippet of his magnificant drawings is almost evil. If this book is hard to find, it's well worth the search

Life and Adventures of Audubon the Naturalist

Average customer rating:

Life and Adventures of Audubon the Naturalist
Robert Buchanan
Manufacturer: Cosimo Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1596050543

Book Description

The man's heart was restless; otherwise he would never have achieved so much. He must wander, he must vagabondize, he must acquire; he was never quite easy at the hearth. His love for nature was passionate indeed, pursuing him in all regions, burning him to the last. -Robert Buchanan in the Editor's Preface This edited version of the diaries of John James Audubon reveals the ambitions, achievements, and personal life of the premiere wildlife artist of North America birds. First published in 1869, the book covers his coming to America, the difficulties he confronted in developing his art, his challenges in business and in publishing his works, and his sometimes unbelievable tales of life as an explorer. Above all, his love for outdoor adventure shines through. ROBERT BUCHANAN (1841-1901) was born in England and educated in Glasgow. As a young man, he was a regular on the literary scene in London, where he was a regular contributor to the city's periodicals. He authored numerous poems, novels, and stage plays, more than fifty of which were produced for the stage from the 1880s on, some directed by Buchanan himself.

Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier

Average customer rating:

Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier
Jennifer Armstrong , and Jos. A. Smith
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810942380

Book Description

In the tradition of the highly successful Abrams title The Yellow House: Van Gogh and Gauguin Side by Side, this fascinating picture-book biography tells the story of 19th-century artist and explorer John James Audubon. Most people know that he painted The Birds of America, but many don't know what an exciting life he led: narrowly escaping an earthquake, meeting with native peoples, and witnessing flocks of passenger pigeons that literally darkened the noon-day sky. Armed with paintbrushes and canvas, Audubon searched the wild for birds and animals. And he captured many of them...on paper.

Customer Reviews:

A great subject........2001-01-18

I'd love to say this is is a great book.But it isn't. Go into a large public library, and if they have a section on canoeing the chances are you'll find a copy of Path of the Paddle by Bill Mason

I can't be the only person who learned to paddle an open Canoe by reading this book. With a library copy stuck in a plastic bag and resting on the hull, I bruised my knees and my ego trying to make 16ft of uncooperative fibre glass do the things in the diagrams. If it hadn't been for the photographs that equated canoeing with stunning wilderness scenery and beautiful campsites in remote places, I would probably have thrown the book away and retreated to my Kayak.

Bill mason did more to popularise the Open canoe than anyone else. His position is unique, since there is no one with a comparative influence on the art of kayaking. When he died, the British canoe union dedicated a chapter of its hand book to him, a film festival and scholarship were set up in his memory in Canada, and even now, when modern writers of books on the sport of open canoe paddling, like Slim Ray, disagree with what he said, they do so with a with a genial reverence that is rarely found in paddling circles.

Since Mason was such an important figure in my private mythology, I approached Bill Ruffan's biography with mixed feelings. To deal with myths is a difficult task, and Mason was many things to many people: the Author of Path of the Paddle, the maker of other films that were successful, a husband , father and friend.

The dust jacket and subtitle seemed to suggest that Raffan had taken the logical course and chosen to use Mason the paddler and his relationship with the tradition he came to embody as the unifying theme.

Instead the book is a rather logical and thorough attempt to cover everything. Ruffan, as Biographer, has used Mason's career as a film maker to hold his narrative together, and the result is a book that reads like an extended portfolio of a film maker's life. While those films were highly praised, and at least six of them are "about" canoeing, there is precious little about Mason the paddler. And outside of Canada, Bill Mason will be remembered most as the man who paddled rivers in an open canoe and indirectly taught thousands to follow him.

At the end of the book I did not know what it was like to go down a river with him. There are almost no stories about Mason as river traveler from someone else's perspective. There is nothing from the students he worked with on camp. There is little from Paul Mason on what it was like to be the very competent son of a paddling legend. I was not expecting to finish the book relatively ignorant of where Mason got his style and terminology from: it's mentioned briefly, but this subject, Bill Mason's position in terms of the tradition he came to represent, which the book's subtitle claims the book is about, is brushed over quickly.

All in all a disappointment. And an education. Watters couldn't find a publisher for his life of Blackadar: Never turn back. Yet "Never turn back" is a far better biography than Fire in the Bones

A legend revealed.......1997-07-28

To canoeists, nature artists and film makers, Bill Mason stands out as an icon "The man in the red canoe". The book reveals what drove the man to live his art and the demons that haunted him. Necessary reading for any canoeist and nature film maker

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