That is one impressive bird, and the artist, John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin) made it more so by printing it on 30″ x 40″ paper. Even so, the artist had to make a rather strange curve in the neck just above the head so as to get the whole bird into the picture. However, if there is one thing Audubon was true to, it was the accurate representation, life-size, of the birds he drew.
Audubon (1785-1851) portrayed here in a portrait by George Healy in the Museum of Science, Boston, mos.org, went through a number of iterations before being able to pursue his great love of painting birds. Born in Haiti of a French father, he spent his youth in France, coming to the U.S. in 1803. He tried business with some success, married and had two sons, and was relatively prosperous until 1819, when an economic downturn caused him to go bankrupt.
What was a financial disaster for him worked to allow him to pursue his real love – painting birds. In 1819-1820, he deployed his artistic talents doing portraits of prominent citizens in Louisville. With money earned from that skill and the support of his wife, Lucy, he was able to travel down the Mississippi to New Orleans and its Bayou, where with the help of a young assistant, John Mason, who drew the background settings, Audubon captured in watercolor the birds throughout the area.
Audubon, while being very precise and scientific in his physical representations of the birds, drew criticism for the often dramatic poses and backgrounds that the birds appear in. The ornithological drawings of the time were normally on a plain background. However, Audubon liked to set the birds in their habitat and have them in poses doing activities which he had observed in real life. Above we get to see the blue heron showing its wings as it searches for a fish in the waters. The roseate duckbill is doing much the same thing, but this time with a more fully developed landscape background. The artistry of his work overall won over his severest American critics, but only after he left America for a stay in England in 1826. There his appearance as a rough hewn American frontiersman (see portrait above) attracted attention and a publisher for the four volume work, Birds of America, consisting of 435 paintings!
That frontiersman approach also worked for him once he returned to America, as that seemed to those from the eastern part of the U.S. to add extra authenticity to his outstanding volumes of drawings. The sets of books were sold by subscription (early print-on-demand publishing?) and some 175-200 sets were sold. His work became a family enterprise, with Lucy writing down his observations, his son, Victor, overseeing the printing, and his son, John, doing some of the drawing. Audubon went west again in 1843 to draw animals for his book Quadrupeds of America. His notes on nature and focus on the majestic landscapes of Yellowstone were forerunners of artists to come shortly after, like Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Church. And of course, in later years, the National Audubon Society was founded in his memory, allowing us to have various nature centers throughout the country in which we can peacefully enjoy the environment and its creatures.
Karl Bodmer: A Naturalist of Another Sort
While Audubon’s seminal works on birds and beasts serve as both artistic and scientific records that have been passed down in history to us, another artist came to the U.S., employed by a German prince who wished to explore the “wilds” of America. The prince was Maximillian of Wied-Neuwied, and the artist was Karl Bodmer (1809-1893). Their trip to America from 1832-1834 in which they traveled into the west using flatboats on the upper Missouri River, resulted in the publication of Travels in the Interiors of North America (1843-44). This work became wonderful documentation of the life and the look of the land and the traditional Native American cultures from that time period.
If we thought that Audubon could be dramatic, Bodmer certainly does not hold back in capturing the wild tangle of trees and dense forestation along the river banks. In a picture that could be foreboding, the few cattle that drink from the river seem to indicate that domestication of this wilderness is happening. Along with that, Bodmer lightens the sky, moving from a pale, soft orange to a light blue, which opens the scene somewhat.
Bodmer is particularly appreciated for his detailed work and accurate representations of the native people that were encountered on this two-year journey. Prince Maximillian in particular wanted to see the native people who were as yet not touched by the western migration of people from the eastern U.S. Bodmer’s skill at capturing the likeness of his subjects is why the prince hired him to come along. Bodmer always asked the native people to wear the clothing that they wished to be represented in and in this way captured many unique forms of dress which now serve as historical cultural records much prized by the Native American population and by the rest of us as well.
One of the most outstanding characters that Bodmer encountered was the chief of the Mandans, Mato Tope, or Four Bears, known to be the fiercest warrior of his era on the plains of America. Supposedly he would show up for a portrait every day in a different outfit, each designed to show off his brave accomplishments and his glory as a chief. These works by Bodmer are now in the Joslyn Museum in Omaha, Nebraska (see video here on Mato Tope, The Rock Star of the Plains youtube.com).
This dramatic piece by Bodmer shows totems or idols constructed by the Mandan. There is a ghostly quality to this piece almost as if Bodmer sensed the coming destruction of these cultures. Mato-Tope, the great warrior who was undefeated on the battlefield. was felled by smallpox just three years after Bodmer’s portraits of him. That disease went on to devastate the native people of the plains. Bodmer’s work is as close to a living testament as we have.
Modern Times, Modern Themes.
The photograph above takes romanticized images of birds in a new direction. While Audubon broke free from the dull poses and stark white backgrounds of the drawings and paintings of birds in his day, Medow applies photography and her skills in composition to capture the birds in action and create a special environment for them. The roseate spoonbills in the photo above are from St. Augustine, Florida. The background, however, is from Hanalei Bay off Kauai in Hawaii. The magic of the juxtaposition of the birds and a completely different environment creates an altered reality that stops viewers in their tracks. The artist was once asked to explain what she does. When she started to reply, someone else in the group told her not to speak just yet because he wanted time to only to enjoy the pictures.
Medow does say of her work that she follows in the tradition of the Hudson Valley School of painting in which the artists went out to sketch scenes en plein air but created their paintings in the studio as composites made up of various parts of the scenery they had sketched. In that way no one can really point to a specific location that matches any of their paintings. Here the birds are put in natural settings that are not their usual ones to create a type of magical reality that maximizes the beauty of both the birds and the settings.
The artist who did the two paintings above, Wes Karchut, specialized for a while in western painting and as such grew accustomed to representing Native American subjects. The fierce look in the eyes of this Arapahoe man caught Karchut’s attention. He gives the man’s face the contours and colors of a southwestern landscape, while also capturing some of the color and originality of the man’s clothing. The painting of the cardinal is in the fine tradition of Audubon, who so loved to capture the natural gestures of the birds. Here Karchut says he was moved by the proud stance of this bird and that in fact influenced his brush strokes, especially around the crest atop the bird’s head. For more on Karchut’s art see weskarchutart.com and for an article on the artist go to vernellestudio.com
Regardless of the time period, the North American continent has never lacked in diversity and beauty. Thankfully there have been artists who could use their skills and imagination to capture it and draw our attention to what we might not have otherwise fully noticed.
Paintings are either in public domain or live linked to artist websites.
Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.comor her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.
Organic Wines, Natural Wines and Biodynamic Viticulture
In the last years with the rising awareness of environmentally sound sustainable agriculture, the subject of organic wines, natural wines, and those produced by biodynamic viniculture techniques has come to the fore. The first thing to handle is how to define what these terms mean. Organic wines are generally described as wines made from organically grown grapes (careful attention given to non-chemical interventions in the growing process) which are often also processed without the addition of sulfites. However, one can also purchase wines with sulfites but made from organically grown grapes. Normally these do not carry the name Organic Wine. The lack of sulfites is the key to the organic label, which is a regulated term. That means certain codified specifications must be met for the wine to call itself organic.
Then we have Natural Wines like those pictured here which are sugar-free. These are wines made of grapes grown with little intervention. The wine is made often using ancient aging techniques, and the color and taste can be quite different from what we normally expect.
The way this type of wine is processed can involve techniques that go back to ancient times. The taste of the wine can be rather on the bitter side like sour beer, and the colors range from pink to orange. These wines appeal to those who want to live a healthier lifestyle as they do not use yeast for fermentation, have few if any sulfites, and are normally made from organically grown grapes. However, since there is such creative variety in how these wines are produced there is no regulation the codifies what is to be considered a Natural Wine.
Lastly we have the term biodynamic which does not really reflect a type of wine, but rather the agricultural process. The focus is on the terroir or the soil and the design process in making the wines. Some of the growing techniques are a bit “mystical” involving wizardry, and the wine might even be aged in antique clay amphora as was done in Roman times. Biodynamically grown grapes may be used in natural wines but can also be found in industrial wines. Delish.com gives a good survey of organic wines in an article linked above under the photos of bottles of organic wine. For a short video with more on these terms, Eric Texier, a winemaker, talks about these categories. youtube.com
When it comes to foods to match with the organic wines, one can use the normal range of options, with Sauvignon Blanc for fish and seafood dishes, grilled meats with organic Temperanillo or Malbec, and organic rose with anything using mild cheeses. Natural Merchants has quite a list of good things to pair on their website naturalmerchants.com. One of the things to note is that some of the best organic wines come from Australia and Chile. Once again click the link under the first photo for Delish.com.
These days going off to Chile or Australia is a lot more difficult but that need not limit your access to organic wines or others produced there. This is where a good wine club like those offered at Cellars Wine Clubs comes in handy. Not only is there an International Wine Club, but there is also one for Natural and Organic Wines.
The testimonial above is only one of many. Cellars has a variety of wine clubs that address every level of wine expertise and every budget. Free shipping, a “no bad bottle” return policy and the Give Back program that allows 15% of the purchase to be donated to one of a number of vetted charities, make Cellars an excellent choice. Click on the Cellars page on this blog (right hand column).
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©marjorie vernelle 2020
Coming soon: The Paintings of Joaquin Sorolla and the Wines of Valencia.
Celebrated as the Spanish Master of Light in a special exhibition in 2019 at the National Gallery in London, the work of Joaquin Sorolla presents another look at Impressionism from the eyes of someone from the sparkling Mediterranean coast of Valencia, Spain.
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