Pretty in Pink!

In this Artist Master Class we are going to be studying the work of ornithologist and naturalist John James Audubon (1785-1851). Audubon is probably one of the most influential scientific illustrators of his time and many of the ideas and techniques he developed are still used today in zoological studies. A self taught artist who was fascinated by the natural world; he spent most of his life striving to capture life like images of wildlife.

His best known work is 'The Birds of America' a book of 4 volumes containing 435 plates. It's thought that just under 200 copies (of which around 120 survive) were ever printed as it was extremely expensive to produce (around £100,000 ~ that's equivalent to about £1.5 million today) as each bird was engraved onto a copper plate weighing 27lbs. The total amount of copper used for all of the plates amounted to 6 tonnes! It's perhaps not a surprise that each set of books cost around $1000 to purchase (at the time).

The books were so expensive to produce; they were actually printed as a subscription (a common practice at the time) with subscribers receiving 5 prints at a time. In today's money the equivalent purchase price would be over $20,000. However, this seems reasonable when you compare it to the last set of books which were sold at auction in 2019 for $6.6 million. Other copies have been sold for more ~ in 2010 a copy fetched $11.5 million one of the most expensive printed books ever.

Although Audubon lived in America he travelled to the UK to have the book printed as it was the only place he could find a printer who had the technical capability of producing his book. The book started its life in Edinburgh, however several problems with the printers led Audubon to move to another printer ~ the renowned London based printer Robert Havell Jr. who managed the engravings, printing and hand-colouring.

What makes these books so remarkable?

• The books measure 3ft in height and all of the illustrations depict each bird life size. This means Audubon had to get a little creative when illustrating some of the taller birds like our American Flamingo.

• The book was so large that the paper used was the biggest size paper available at the time called 'double elephant size'.

• The illustrations were completed from fresh specimens ~ this was uncommon in the 17-1800's as most illustrations were taken from existing taxidermy collections. As controversial as it is today, Audubon hunted each bird, posed them using a grid style device of his own design and then drew them in situ.

• Audubon's aim was to make the birds appear alive ~ so he depicted them hunting or feeding in an environment that was similar to their natural habitat. In the early 1800's photography was still in its earliest form, and Audubon's approach feels like a glimpse into what photography was later to achieve. Today these printed images may appear unremarkable but in the 1800's they would have absolutely wowed ~ but I think even today the sheer size and use of colour remains unrivalled!

• The original paintings were completed using a wide range of techniques ~ some of which Audubon devised through trial and error. Some of the pencil and ink drawings were overlaid with watercolour, oil, pastels, graphite and even collage.

In our response to Audubon's print of 'American Flamingo' we will work using similar techniques. To begin we will layer on graphite to add a tonal under drawing. This will mimic the toned ground of the prints which would have started as black & white images.

Once the drawing is complete we will layer thin washes of colour across the bird. Working onto dry to begin with and then layering darker colour by dropping in deeper values into wet.

To complete the painting a soft pastel can be used to add the distant blue mist on the horizon.

To find out more about this project take a look at the short video below.

Audubon's work is undeniably remarkable and as such it's still highly desirable as its quality is unrivalled ~ and it is this aspect which this project seeks to acknowledge. However, it must be said that Audubon's place in history is not to be revered as he was a known slave trader and was against the emancipation of slaves at a time when the UK was calling for the abolition of slavery. Unsurprisingly, this had led to several Audubon Societies distancing themselves from the artist.

If you would like to find out more about Audubon's life and work visit https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/john-james-audubon-and-the-birds-of-america.html

If you fancy watching a lecture about the history of this remarkable book take a look at this YouTube video from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m052VV18wiM

There's a lot to learn in this project ~ with ample opportunity to get to grips with layering techniques ~ if you're feeling daring why not scale this one up and go as large as you dare!

I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Painting!