Great news! If you missed our Celebration of the Soul Art Show and Sale earlier this month – or if you’re still in the mood to add to your art collection – you’re in luck!
Please join us 10 am-1 pm, Sunday, May 30, for our Closing Reception at Church of Reconciliation, 8900 Starcrest Dr., in Brown Hall.
We have additional pieces from Brother Cletus and 12 other favorite local artists, along with a collection of rare John James Audubon and George Edwards bird prints, all handsomely framed and ready for your walls.
Closing Reception
Sunday, May 30, 2021
10 am – 4 pm
Location
Church of Reconciliation
Brown Hall
8900 Starcrest Dr.
Confirmed artists so far: Michelle Belto, Jim Collier, Bruce Flohr, Lesta Frank, Terry Gay Puckett, Octavio Quintanilla, Edwin Sasek, Patsy Sasek, Steve Smith, Peter Szarmach and E. Gordon West.
Please send an email if you’d like to attend. We’d love to have you with us!
The prints are from Birds of America and A Natural History of Birds – and are among the most sought-after and collectible of hand-colored American prints. Audubon, as we know, was passionate about documenting all bird life in North America. Edwards was known as “The Father of British Ornithology.”
These pieces were donated to ABODE, and we’re happy to share them with you:
Virginian Rail AUDUBON, John James. This fine Audubon lithograph comes from Birds of America, the Royal Octavo Edition (1840-1844). The paper size for these prints is approximately 6.5 x 10 inches. First edition print completed under the direct supervision of John James Audubon himself. This edition was lithographed and hand colored by J. T. Bowen. $395 framed
Yellow-Throated Wood Warbler AUDUBON, John James. Page 79 from Birds of America, first edition, New York & Philadelphia, 1840-44. Hand-colored lithograph. Sheet size: 9 7/8 x 6 1/8 inches. Handsomely paired in frame with the title page of Volume 1 of the first edition of Birds of America.
Framed with Missouri Meadowlark Plate 489 This hand-colored lithograph comes from John James Audubon’s first octavo edition of Birds of America, published from 1840 to 1844. The work was completed under the direct supervision of J.J. Audubon. Nicely framed together with Title Page of Birds of America and Introduction by J.J. Audubon. The lithography and hand-coloring was completed by J.T. Bowen. The first edition was the only one to be completed using strictly hand-coloring. $500 framed
The Shore-Finch AUDUBON, John James. These are from the second edition of Birds of America (New York: V. G. Audubon. R. Craighead, Electrotyper and Stereotyper. 1856) differing mainly from the first edition with the addition of tinted backgrounds to the images.
Framed with The Fork-Tailed Flycatcher AUDUBON, John James. These are from the second edition of Birds of America (New York: V. G. Audubon. R. Craighead, Electrotyper and Stereotyper. 1856) differing mainly from the first edition with the addition of tinted backgrounds to the images. $500 framed
Whimbrel EDWARDS, George. Plate 137 from A Natural History of Birds, London, 1743-51. Hand-colored copperplate engraving. Sheet size: 11x 9 inches; image size: 9 x7 inches. George Edwards is often referred to as the father of English ornithology, but there are a sufficient number of claimants for that title that a paternity test may be in order. There is no doubt, however, that his Natural History of Birds (and companion work, Gleanings from Natural History) was a great accomplishment for its time. Edwards learned the art of engraving from Mark Catesby, and his ability to do his own drawing, engraving, and coloring made possible the publication of the work from which this striking image of a whimbrel is taken. $390 framed
Green Turaco EDWARDS, George. Plate 7 from A Natural History of Birds, London, 1743-51. Hand-colored copperplate engraving. Sheet size: 11x 9 inches; image size: 9 V x 7 T inches. This bird resembles a creature from mythology, or from the fertile imagination of a medieval artist, or a teenage boy having a bad hair day. But the green turaco is a real bird, one of the distinctive species of West Africa. The only thing about this image that rings false is the exposed perch – the turaco is a retiring bird of the canopy, and one usually sees only his strange-looking head peering from behind a mass of green leaves. Since Edwards drew many of his birds from specimens in London, he would not have known of the turaco’s habits. Until Audubon, the standard pose for most birds was this one: erect on a perch. $365 framed
Albatross EDWARDS, George. Plate 88 from A Natural History of Birds, London, 1743-51. Hand-colored copperplate engraving. Sheet size: 11 Q x 9 inches; image size: 9 W x 7 T inches. When Edwards wished to incorporate an anatomical detail into one of his images, he often chose the happy idea of working the detail – in this case an albatross’s tube-nosed beak – into the landscape, forming an elegant base for the composition. $390 framed
Black and White Chinese Cock Pheasant with its Hen EDWARDS, George. Hand-colored copperplate engraving, plate size approximately 10 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches on sheet 11 1/2 x 9 inches. A few light foxed spots and toning to edges. Signed in the plate. Plate # 66 from A Natural History of Birds, published in London between 1743 and 1751. This plate, dated 1746, features two beautifully colored pheasants. $375 framed
Great Curassow, Crax Rubra ALBIN, Eleazer. Plate from A Natural History of Birds, London, 1731-38. Hand-colored copperplate engraving. Sheet size: 11 W x 9 inches; image size: 10 U x 8 Q inches. A charming, representative image from the first bird book published with colored plates. The title page says the birds were “curiously engraven from life,” and this is surely a curious likeness of what is in any case a most unusual bird, native to the neotropics. Although Albin’s book mostly consisted of English species, examples of more exotic birds such as the great curassow were being brought to England. He says the bird was drawn from life, but in his time that could just as well mean it was drawn from a specimen, which is more likely. $285 framed
Le Hobreau (The Hobby) MARTINET, François Nicolas. Plate 432 from Buffon, Histoire naturelle des oiseaux, Paris, c.1770-83. Hand-colored copperplate engraving. Sheet size: 12 x 9 inches; image size: 10 x 8 1/2 inches. This hand-colored image comes from Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux, a famous set of volumes edited by Georges Louis Leclerc, le comte de Buffon (1707-1788), perhaps the most famous French naturalist of the 19th century. With hand-colored plates engraved by Martinet, the set was published 1771-86. Distinguished by yellow borders and bright colors, the images generally show one bird in profile with its habitat indicated in a summary way. Martinet trained as an engineer and draftsman but is best remembered as an engraver, with birds his particular specialty – he engraved over 2,000 plates during his career. $350 framed
