Kirkus Reviews
Stellar reproductions of Audubon's artwork, complemented by a nimble text from Foshay (former curator of the New-York Historical Society and an authority on Audubon), make this latest addition to Abrams's Library of American Art a treasure. Here can be found early paintings, allowing readers to witness Audubon's artistic development; the superb watercolors, from which the famed prints were made; many of the bird and quadruped prints, from a selection of editions; and a terrific two-page spread illustrating the collaborative process, between Audubon and his background painters, by which many of the lithographs were made. Foshay concentrates, thankfully, on the life of the frontier artist and naturalist rather than on stylistic considerations. Audubon emerges as a self-promoting, flamboyant, haughty teller of tall tales, especially about himself (he ``subscribed to the legend that he was the lost Dauphin of France'')--undoubtedly a crank, but also a visionary whose particular artistic fruits have never seen an equal. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Ingram
Known throughout the world for the power and beauty of his illustrations of American wildlife, John James Audubon was also an explorer and a frontier naturalist. Few know the fascinating story of this flamboyant artist's life or have seen the splendid original watercolors from which his engravings were made. Illustrated with full-page color plates, this handsome volume documents the life and personality of this impassioned observer of the natural world. 104 illustrations, 55 in full color.
