Thursday, March 22, 2007

Audubon Watercolors on Display at N-YHS

The New-York Historical Society's newest Audubon exhibit, "Audubon's Aviary: Natural Selection," will open on 30 March and run through 20 May. Forty-three watercolor compositions of 21 species will be on display, showing how Audubon "reworked a bird's portrait - honing and perfecting his depictions, sometimes for more than a decade - until the image met with his satisfaction." The watercolors have been selected from the Society's collection; they hold the original watercolors which were used to make The Birds of America.

"Another highlight will be a newly restored taxonomic listing of 425 bird species created in 1837 by Audubon and Charles Lucien Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon, which will be on view to the public for the first time."

And while you're in New York, the American Museum of Natural History will also be hosting an Audubon exhibit: "The Unknown Audubons: Mammals of North America."

I'm hoping to get a chance to see both of these.