John James Audubon in the West

The Last Expedition: Mammals of North America

June 23-September 24, 2000
Special Exhibitions Gallery

Visit the Online Experience

John James Audubon

Trace Audubon's historic trek up the Missouri River to Fort Union, for his last great work The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America.

The name "Audubon" is widely recognized for the naturalist/artist's ornithological work in his extraordinary publication, The Birds of America. Audubon's last great work, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, is less well known but of equal significance. Audubon's study of four-legged, live-bearing animals is the basis of our exhibit.

John James Audubon's life (1785-1851) forms a tale featuring romance, idealism, adversity, perseverance and passion of purpose. He was born in Haiti, in 1785, the illegitimate son of Jean Audubon, a French sailor and merchant, and Jeanne Rabine, a chambermaid, who died shortly after his birth. Jean Audubon took his 4-year-old son back to France, in 1788, where he was adopted and raised by his legal wife, Anne Moynet.

Audubon grew up exploring the French countryside around Nantes, developing a love of wildlife, especially birds, and of drawing. In 1803, his father sent him to manage family property at Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, where he found bounteous new wildlife, leading to his determination to document all species of American birds in their natural habitat. Audubon drew birds in pastels and watercolors and brought in other artists for backgrounds. Collaborating with an engraver, he produced 435 hand-colored engravings and published double elephant folios (1827-1838), followed by a smaller, octavo-sized, version.

Discontent to end his explorations of wildlife, Audubon embarked on his second publication and undertook an expedition to the American West in 1843. He completed approximately half of his original works in watercolors. Other paintings, primarily oils, were by his son, John Woodhouse Audubon, with contributions from son Victor Gifford Audubon. One hundred fifty hand-colored lithographs, in the imperial folio size, published 1845-1848, were assembled into three volumes. The smaller octavo edition was initially published 1849-1854. The Reverend John Bachman, related to the Audubon family through marriage, produced the text.

The Exhibition

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This interdisciplinary exhibition is devoted to John James Audubon's only trip to the West. This exhibition begins with Audubon's "Minnie's Land" studio on the Hudson River in New York City, where it is said he produced his best work.

Audubon and his party departed from the docks of St. Louis for their 48-day, seven-hour journey up the Missouri River. Audubon described the launch of their steamship Omega as raucous, involving "one hundred and one trappers of all descriptions and nearly a dozen nationalities."

Audubon and his colleagues spent two months hunting, collecting and studying wildlife at Fort Union, at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. Interactive video stations feature the trading post of Fort Union.

The exhibition highlights 310 original watercolors, oils, and the hand-colored lithographs. Audubon and his sons published their magnificent three-volume study of American mammals, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America at the Philadelphia studios of John T. Bowen.

Exhibition Schedule

Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming
June 23 - September 24, 2000.

The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, October 29, 2000 - January 21, 2001.

Houston Museum of Natural Science
March 24 - May 28, 2001.

Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Los Angeles
June 23 - September 30, 2001.

Special Audubon Exhibition Programs

Gallery Walk and Book Signing

Sarah Boehme, Curator of the Whitney Gallery of Western Art. A gallery walk through the exhibition followed by a book signing session of John James Audubon in the West: The Last Expedition: Mammals of North America. Tuesday, August 29, 2000.

"The Fur Trade and Alexander Culbertson"

Lesley Wischmann, sponsored by The Wyoming Council for the Humanities Speakers Bureau. Saturday, June 24, 2000.

John James Audubon in the West: The Last Expedition: Mammals of North America

by Sarah E. Boehme with essays by Annette Blaugrund, Robert McCracken Peck, and Ron Tyler.

Millions of nature lovers are familiar with Audubon's exquisite portraits of birds in his great masterpiece, The Birds of America. Less well known yet of immense significance is a second masterwork by the noted artist/naturalist, a series of illustrations devoted to the four-footed mammals of North America. This splendid volume, created to accompany a traveling exhibition organized by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, is the most comprehensive study ever made of Audubon's mammal paintings.

The superior draftsmanship and extensive field research that characterize Audubon's famous bird paintings are everywhere evident in Audubons' renderings of bison, foxes, deer, and other North American mammals. The text, by four noted Audubon scholars, places Audubon's mammals in the context of his life's work and evaluates his enduring scientific, artistic, and literary legacy.

Credits

Sarah E. Boehme, Ph.D. is the John S. Bugas Curator of the Whitney Gallery of Western Art at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

Annette Blaugrund is Director of the National Academy of Design Museum and School of Fine Art, New York City.

Robert Peck is a Fellow of The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.

Ron Tyler is Director of the Texas State Historical Association, Austin.

Sponsorship

Shell Oil Company Foundation, on behalf of the employees of Shell Oil Company, is pleased to make possible the presentation of the John James Audubon exhibition to the American People.

Additional generous funding has been provided by Ms. Nancy-Carroll Draper and Mr. and Mrs. Silas S. Cathcart.

IMAGES:

1. John James Audubon. Drawn on stone by Wm. E. Hitchcock, J.T. Bowen, lithographer.
Swift Fox, Plate 52.
Hand-colored lithograph; 6 3/4 x 10 1/8".
Gift of Deborah B. Chastain.

2. John Woodhouse Audubon.
John James Audubon, c. 1843.
Oil on canvas; 35 x 27 1/2 in.
American Museum of Natural History.

3. John James Audubon, J.T. Bowen, lithographer.
American Badger, Plate 47.
Hand-colored lithograph; 6 3/4 x 10 1/8 in.
Gift of Deborah B. Chastain.

4. John Woodhouse Audubon, J.T. Bowen, lithographer.
Prong-Horned Antelope, Plate 77, 1845. Hand-colored lithograph; 22 x 28 in.
American Museum of Natural History.

5. John Woodhouse Audubon.
Red Texan Wolf, c. 1846.
Oil on canvas; 21 1/2 x 26 1/2 in.
Chase Bank of Texas.

6. John Woodhouse Audubon.
White American Wolf, c. 1843.
Oil on canvas; 21 7/16 x 26 5/8 in.
American Museum of Natural History.