The American Woodsman: Our namesake and inspiration
John James Audubon (1785-1851) was the first man who tries to paint and describe all the birds of America (Alexander Wilson has that distinction), but for half a century was the young country dominant wildlife artist. creative Birds of America, a collection of 435 life-size prints, quickly pushed the work of Wilson and is still a standard against 20 and 21 century bird artists are like Roger Tory Peterson and David Sibley measured.
Although Audubon had no role in the organization that bears his name, there is a connection: George Bird Grinnell, founder of the early Audubon Society in late 1800 by Lucy Audubon, John James informed the widow. Knowing the reputation of Audubon, Grinnell chose the name as inspiration for the organization protected by the first work on birds and their habitats. Today, the name synonymous with Audubon birds and birds of the world.
Audubon was born in Saint Domingue (now Haiti), the illegitimate son of a French captain and plantation owner and beloved of the French. Early was raised by his stepmother, Mrs. Audubon, in Nantes, France, and took a keen interest in birds, nature, painting and music. In 1803, aged 18, was sent to America to escape conscription in part to the army of Emperor Napoleon. He lived at the family estate at Mill Grove near Philadelphia, where he hunted, studied and drew birds and met his wife, Lucy Bakewell. There he conducted the first known bird-banding experiment in North America to tie strings around the legs of the Eastern Phoebe, he learned that the same birds return to nest each year.
Audubon spent more than a decade in business, eventually traveling the Ohio River to the West Kentucky - then the border - and create a dry goods store in Henderson. He continued to draw birds as a hobby, amassing an impressive portfolio. While in Kentucky, Lucy gave birth to two sons, Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse, and a daughter who died in infancy. Audubon was quite successful in the business for a while to beat but hard times, and in 1819 he was jailed briefly in bankruptcy.
With no other prospects, Audubon set off on an epic journey to represent America's avifauna, with nothing but his weapon, the art materials and a young assistant. Floating down the Mississippi, he lived a rugged hand-mouth existence in the South, while Lucy earned money as a tutor to wealthy plantation families. In 1826 he sailed with his partly finished collection to England. "The American Woodsman» was literally an overnight success.'s Life size, highly dramatic bird portraits, along with embellished descriptions of wilderness life, just the right note struck at the height of romance continent. Audubon was a printer for the birds America, first in Edinburgh, then London, and later the Scottish ornithologist William MacGillivray on the Ornithological Biography - life stories of individual species in the project.
The last printing was in 1838, when Audubon achieve fame and a small degree of comfort, traveled the country several times in search of birds, and settled in New York City. He made a trip West in 1843, the basis for the final work of mammalian viviparous quadrupeds of North America, which was largely of his sons were completed and as communicated by his longtime friend, the Lutheran pastor wrote John Bachman (Audubon's daughters married sons). Audubon spent his last years of his life in dementia and died at age 65. It is about Trinity Cemetery 155th Street and Broadway in New York are buried.
Audubon is a story of triumph over adversity, the performance is meant to last forever. This encapsulates the spirit of young America, when the wilderness was limitless and fascinating. He was a man of legendary strength and stamina, and keen observer of birds and nature. Like his colleagues, was an avid hunter and also had a deep appreciation and concern for conservation, in later writings, he raised an alarm over the destruction of birds and their habitats. It's fitting that now bear his name and heritage in the future.
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