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Audubon & Natural History Prints
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This note will announce the opening of our new website in commemoration of Charley Harper, http://www.charleyharperprints.com/. Charley was an amazing artist known for the style of art he called 'minimal realism.' This term refers to his ability to capture the essence of nature, and more particularly, birds, with a minimum of detail.
Charley was born in West Virginia in 1922. He graduated from, and taught art at, the Art Academy of Cincinnati where he met wife, Edie, also an artist. The two married in 1947 after graduating.
In the 1950's Harper gained acclaim as a commercial illustrator with "The Golden Book of Biology" and "Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two cookbook." Over the ensuing two decades he contributed to the Ford Motor Company's magazine, Ford Times. The response to this work was so positive, it led to his silkscreen print business reproducing those images. Charley's paintings have appeared in nature-oriented magazines and on posters for many conservation-minded organizations, among them the National Park Service, Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati Nature Center, Hamilton County (Ohio) Park District, the Michigan Audubon Society, and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania. Besides "The Golden Book of Biology" he has illustrated "The Animal Kingdom", Birds & Words"; and "Beguiled by the Wild; The Art of Charley Harper."
Charley has designed over 50 "bio" posters for non-profit conservation groups, nature centers and zoos, United States national parks and monuments, and international wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere preserves. One of the first federally commissioned posters was the ecology of Glacier Bay National Park in the 1960's. He also designed interpretive displays for Everglades National Park. He had produced more than 100 limited-edition silk-screen prints.
When once asked to describe his art style, Harper replied, "When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe."
Charley Harper passed on Sunday, June 10, 2007. But, his work, his art, and his passion remain in the legacy he left behind.
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Posted by Terry Wright at
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Living nearby I could not resist the opportunity to visit the Audubon
exhibit at Shelburne Museum, in Shelburne, Vermont (near Burlington).
The museum itself is an americana folk life/art museum on sprawling
grounds with many historic buildings, a covered bridge, lighthouse,
gardens and etc. The museum features many exhibits and displays, the
most notable of which is an original steam-powered side-wheel
paddle-boat. The museum's iconic symbol is a large round barn
serving as the museum entrance and currently housing quilting and
chandelier exhibits. You can easily spend the better part of a day
here....
Now, on to the exhibit. The museum owns 60 Audubon/Havell prints,
which were acquired from the Old Print Shop, New York, in 1958.
Twenty-one of these prints are temporarily on display (through
October)in the Vermont House Gallery on the Museum grounds. Most of
the prints are full-sheet prints and highest tier images. The
Turkey's (#1&5), Snowy Owl (#121), Mallard Duck (#221), Common
American Swan (#411) are several examples. Here is the full list of
prints currently on display.
Plate Print Name Modern Name
238 Great Marbled Godwit Marbled Godwit
303 Bartram Sandpiper Upland Sandpiper
367 Band-tailed Pigeon
17 Carolina Turtle Dove Mourning Dove
291 Herring Gull
313 Blue-winged Teal
229 Scaup Duck Greater Scaup
76 Virginian Partridge Northern Bobwhite
5 Wild Turkey (hen)
1 Wild Turkey (cock)
346 Black-throated Diver Common Loon
121 Snowy Owl
411 Common American Swan
221 Mallard Duck Mallard
381 Snow Goose
41 Ruffed Grouse
232 Hooded Merganser
301 Canvas backed Duck Canvasback
201 Canada Goose
327 Shoveller Duck Northern Shoveller
206 Wood Duck
Most of the prints are in exceptional condition, excepting only that
margins are very narrow on the full sheet prints. Perhaps this is a
sign that the prints were from a bound copy. They are matted and
framed very plainly. I did not have my copy of Lowe's book with me
but I did notice one odd print - #381 Snow Goose did not appear to
have a part number or plate number. Consulting Lowe, later, she does
not record such a state.
Overall I was very pleased with the exhibit and felt fortunate to have
been able to see so many top-tier Havell's in one place.
If anyone wants more info about the Burlington area, please feel free
to contact me directly (terry@jjaudubongallery.com).
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Posted by Terry Wright at
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New-York Historical Society's annual show of Audubon's watercolors will be opening March 30th and running until May 20th. https://www.nyhistory.org/web/default.php?section=whats_new&page=detail_pr&id=9266798
The annual NYHS exhibit of Audubon watercolors has a new twist this year. Besides the rotating exhibit of Birds, the Mammals have their own exhibit, this year.
Read more, here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/arts/design/30audu.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&ore
If you haven't been, this is one of the *must see* Audubon exhibits. Nowhere else will you see the original paintings Audubon himself drew and painted. Besides the paintings, other Audubon exhibits, such as a premium edition of Birds of America (Octavo set), model apparatus showing how JJA posed his birds, etc are all fascinating adjuncts to the watercolors.
Terry
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Posted by Terry Wright at
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M. Bernard Loates is one of the premier print makers of the 20th century. A Canadian citizen, his career has been marked by a painstaking quest for unparalleled print quality. An ardent promoter of his twin brother Glenn's artistry, Bernard is also an accomplished artist. Perhaps his most widely known works, however, are his interpretive reproductions of the John James Audubon Double Elephant folio prints from the Birds of America. This work is undeniably one of the finest offset print productions of Audubon's work. Yet, it is somewhat controversial for the interpretive aspects and limited acknowledgement to Audubon and Havell, the original engraver. Whatever the opinion regarding style, the quality of the images cannot be denied.
There were several releases of Audubon prints by Loates, starting in 1987 with the Introductory Edition (5 prints). This was followed by the Tribute I (5 prints) and Tribute 2 (6 prints) Editions. By some accounts, there are an additional 17 'post-Tribute' Loates images made over at least a 10 year period following the Introductory Edition.
In all, over 30 Audubon reproduction prints are mentioned. However, some are difficult to find, whilst others, paradoxically, are abundant and readily found on eBay and internet websites. You can read more about these prints online at: www.jjaudubongallery.com. From the main page, follow the research links to the M. Bernard Loates article where you will find more detail about these fine prints.
We definitely appreciate these prints for their incredible vividness, superb print characteristics and lasting beauty. Copies of most prints can be purchased from our website. Periodically we buy copies of this work. Inquiries may be directed to: info@jjaudubongallery.com
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Posted by Terry Wright at
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The most often asked question by Audubon art collector's is probably an inquiry into the value of one of their prints. Of the hundreds of contacts along these lines, most turn out to be 'false alarms' with the print being a copy, usually of little value. Given the wide circulation of Audubon facsimile images over more than 100 years, this is not surprising. For example, one estimate of the Northwestern Mutual Life calendar prints had their distribution at over 20 million! Certainly, there are a lot more copies than originals out there.
However, periodically - routinely even- collectors do find the authentic prints, through one channel or another, and want to know the value for a Havell print. Ron Flynn publishes a well-researched price guide reflecting eBay realized prices and Dealer asking prices. These guides provide wholesale-to-retail ranges for individual prints in fair-to-excellent condition. Realized prices are often discounted 15-20% from retail.
There are also several benchmark sales of Havell prints which have set the standard to judge all other sales by. By far, the most interesting are the Christie's auctions of complete and partial sets of Audubon's large-format prints. Typically, these are fine to pristine copies.
In 1992, the University of Edinburgh sold a complete folio, for $4.07 million. A record-breaking $8.8 million was paid for the so-called Fox-Bute folio, in March of 2000. And, in December 2005, the Providence Athanaeum copy of Audubon's masterpiece, was sold for $5.6 million. At those prices, the average price per double-elephant print is from $9300 to over $20,000! However, this figure is misleading. There is no such thing as an 'average' print. In reality, there are individual images which garner much higher prices, while most of the smaller prints can still be purchased for $5000, or less.
In June, 2004, the Sachsen-Meiningen set was sold plate-by-plate, at auction. Of the 424 plates offered, 317 sold for a record $5.5 million (unsold lots were sold later). A unique feature of this set was it's outstanding condition and coloring, in unbound state. Record-setting highlights for this auction were:
American flamingo,
Plate 431, $197,900
Snowy Owl, Plate 121 at
$186,700
Roseate Spoonbill, Plate 321, $175,500
American
White Pelican, Plate 311, $175,500
Snowy Heron, or White
Egret, Plate 242, $153,100
Fish Hawk, or Osprey, Plate 81, sold for $141,900
Trumpeter Swan, Plate 406,
$119,500
Common American Swan, Plate 411, $119,500
Carolina
Parrot, Plate 26, $119,500
Iceland or Jer Falcon,
Plate 366, $119,500
Prior to the sale of the Sachsen-Meiningen set, previous by-plate sales record for a set of Audubon DEF prints was set in 1987, when 435 prints sold for $1.9 million.
These data serve to demonstrate that original Audubon/Havell art continues to appreciate in value, at a healthy pace. Two effects of this appreciation are, first, to reduce the availability of original Audubon's to the middle class of collector's. The other effect is to drive up the secondary market for Audubon facsimilies, such as the Amsterdam edition of DEF prints.
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Posted by Terry Wright at
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John James Audubon published several artistic works during his lifetime. These are his 'Birds of America', in both Double Elephant (i.e. 26.5" x 39") and Octavo (6.5" x 10") editions, along with his Quadrupeds of North America (with Bachman) in Imperial Folio and Octavo formats. The Birds are his most famous works and have been much duplicated & copied over the last 17+ decades. Indeed, with Audubon images in the public domain and no longer protected by copyright, they are among the most copied images in the world.
The first successful efforts were made by the family, especially Audubon's sons, who co-published the 2d through 7th editions of the octavo set of Birds of America. These editions are nearly identical to the first edition. They are also stone-lithographs finished with hand color. A distinguishing feature is that (most of) these later images were printed using a tinted background. Second edition octavo prints are less valuable than first edition prints, precisely because they were not first, but also because they are the only edition in which Audubon himself presided over the publication.
The next such efforts were also made by the family, with the so-called 'Bien edition'. Ultimately, this project failed due to the intervening United States Civil War and the entire series was truncated. Surviving prints are in need of restoration due to the use of acid-containing papers, which are often very brittle. These chromolithographic prints are of distinctly inferior quality to the original hand-colored double-elephant prints. Yet, being produced by the Audubon family, these prints are collectable.
In 1890, Audubon's 'Birds' was plagiarized in B.H. Warren's 'Birds of Pennsylvania'. These octavo prints are done using chromolithography and are very much inferior to any of the 7 editions of octavo prints produced by the Audubon family. They have little value.
In the 1930's we see the resurgence of interest in Audubon's work. Artistic Print Publishers produced a number of Audubon's prints, done with hand coloring. These 'APP' prints have not appreciated over the years, to any notable extent. MacMillan also began republishing Audubon's work through many editions of bound volumes, beginning in 1937 and also later issued a boxed set of 50 prints. The American Museum of Natural History and the History Institute of America reproduced a dozen or more images, using hand coloring, and these are different in size fom the originals, being approximately 20" x 26". These and other early facsimiles are often found on eBay and are not valuable, fetching prices from $10 to $100.
Perhaps the most prodigious use of Audubon's images was by the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance company. They produced tens of millions of copies of Audubon images, as calendars, and distrbuted them during the 1940's through 1960's.
In the early 1970's, the first full facsimile edition of Audubon's Double Elephant Folio was completed through a collaboration between Johnson Reprint Company and Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. This edition of DEF prints included all 435 original images, produced in a limited edition of 250 sets, done with offset lithography on high quality watermarked paper. There is a following and established market for these prints, known as the 'Amsterdam Edition'. Also in the early 1970's, a subset of forty DEF images were created in Leipzig, Germany, using an outdated, but beautiful, printing process known as collotype. Finally, in 1978, Volair Limited, with the National Audubon Society, republished the entire octavo works of Audubon, in ten volumes (Birds & Quadrupeds.)
In the mid-1980's two additional DEF Birds of America publications came into existence. In 1985, the American Museum of Natural history, in conjunction with Alecto Historical Editions, issued six DEF restrikes of Audubon's work. These 'Alecto Edition' prints were limited to just 125 prints. Given their unique status as restrikes and limited distribution, they are scarce and relatively expensive, second, only perhaps, to the original Havel prints themselves. At nearly the same time, a second full facsimile DEF limited-edition of the Birds of America was produced by Abbeville Press and the National Audubon Society. The 'Abbeville Edition' seems always to have followed in the shadow of the 'Amsterdam Edition', with little to distinguish it from the prior work. These prints have a glossier surface than the original Havell's, or Amsterdam facsimiles, and are printed on watermarked paper. Abbeville's have a larger circulation of 350 sets. Princeton Audubon Limited produced, also in the mid-1980's, a series of 36 well-made Audubon DEF prints, identifiable by their embossed seal along the lower edge of each print. Princeton Edition prints were released in editions of 500 or 1500, depending upon the image. In the late 1980's M. Bernard Loates issued several releases of Audubon DEF prints which he reinterpreted. As such, they are reproduction prints and not facsimiles (exact copies).
With the approach of the 21st century, the Oppenheimer Field Museum began producing Audubon's 'Top 50' prints. This edition, known as the 'Oppenheimer Edition', is limited to 150 sets. These prints are produced using commercial Giclee (ink-jet) technology, from digitally scaned images. In 2005, the 'Centennial Edition', under auspices of the National Audubon Society, made it's debut, and is currently (2007) in partial production. The 'Centennial Edition' is also made using Giclee technology, and is intended, eventually, to encompass all 435 original images. When completed, it will be the third full facsimile edition of Audubon's DEF portfolio.
Besides those editions listed, numerous other efforts have not been mentioned, those being more-or-less minor in scale, or less notable for various reasons. There are also recent efforts to publish Audubon's watercolor's, which were never published, but were used as the basis for his DEF Birds of America masterpiece. And, recently announced is a forthcoming hand-colored edition of Audubon's Imperial Folio Quadrupeds. What is certain, however, is that Adubon's images are as popular as ever and will be duplicated for generations to come.
You can learn a lot more about individual editions of Audubon's works by visiting the RESEARCH pages on our website: http://www.jjaudubongallery.com/
Your comments regarding this article are most welcome!
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Posted by Terry Wright at
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Welcome Natural History print collectors. I am your moderator, Terry Wright. An avid birder and ornithological print collector for most of my adult life, I hope to create a resource for discussing and sharing information regarding ornithological art. That's what this blog is all about.
Our nation's most famous ornithological artist is, without doubt, John James Audubon. However, in this country, others preceeded him, most notably Mark Catesby and Alexander Wilson. Following Audubon, notably, were Cassin, and others, all pioneers in a new and developing land. On the European continent, published ornithological art goes back to at least the 17th century, with many great artists and titles. The legacies of such artists as John Gould, Jacques Barraband, P.J Selby, and others is not to be underestimated. The art they left behind required painstaking efforts on their part, much more than can be appreciated today.
This blog is intendeed to be a discussion forum for their works. Articles, comments and discussion on any topic related to ornithological art and artists is welcomed.
Best regards,
Terry
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Posted by Terry Wright at
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