The Life and Art of Athos Menaboni is a straightforward biography of the artist. Menaboni is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest illustrators and painters of bird life, and hailed by wildlife lovers, art collectors, and orinthologists alike as the 20th century Audobon, but unlike Audubon, he worked mostly from live bird studies. Spanning a sixty-year career, Menaboni’s work professed his love for the more than 150 American birds he painted in their natural surroundings. These delightful interpretations, rendered with integrity and love, capture the wonderful colors and details of nature. Throughout his career, his technical innovations evolved and developed. Menaboni was a tremendous experimenter, and explored a wide range of media: painting on canvas, silk, glass, masonite, wood panels, gesso-covered board, and mirrors. He also experimented with different textures, using tiles, eggshells, watercolor, Italian glass, and pencil in his work.
Menaboni was an artist for art’s sake, and shunned the spotlight of publicity and fame. Thus, he is largely unknown today, despite the excellence and size of his ouvre.
