Audubon: Life and Art in the American Wilderness [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ (Author) "John Audubon wrote those words in his journal while floating down the Mississippi River on a flatboat; by then, he had been in America for..." (more)
Key Phrases: ornithological biography, journal that night, bird drawings, New York, John Audubon, New Orleans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Born Jean Rabin in France, John James Audubon made a name for himself in the New World almost in spite of himself. A failure at business, a footloose and difficult man, he perpetually fought off poverty to establish himself as a painter of America's fabulously varied wildlife. (To support himself while gathering the materials for his famous Birds of America, he painted portraits of New Orleans society ladies.) In this thoroughly researched and well-written biography, Shirley Streshinsky supplies little-known details about Audubon's early years and later tribulations, which were rewarded late in his life by widespread fame and the recognition of his singular contributions to early American science.

From Publishers Weekly

To escape conscription into the French Army, John James Audubon (1785-1851) fled to Philadelphia in 1803. There he married Lucy Bakewell, daughter of a large, prosperous Quaker family. As they moved West to seek their fortune, Audubon was entranced by the wilderness; in 1820 he started to implement his plan of depicting every indigenous bird on canvas. Streshinsky ( The Shores of Paradise ) has written a scintillating biography, a richly detailed story of romance, separation and struggle. After a succession of business failures, the Audubons drifted to New Orleans and Natchez, Miss., where he earned money drawing portraits and Lucy taught school to plantation families. In 1826 Audubon, carrying letters of introduction, took his portfolio abroad and established himself in England and on the Continent as a brilliant portrayer of birds. In her solid and satisfying biography, Streshinsky gives a lively account of that period. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 407 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press; Trade edition (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820320056
• ISBN-13: 978-0820320052
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,286,688 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Birder's delight, July 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Audubon: Life and Art in the American Wilderness (Hardcover)

Reading this book is like living along side this great, self-made naturalist during his many ups and downs. Credit the author for taking us through his struggling ``mercantile'' years before he learned of his purpose. We meet the wife, Lucy, in full. We suffer her angst while he's off in Europe making a future. Any bird watcher naturally will be thrilled by the story but so too would any lover of the American dream, which is what Audubon lived. The one drawback was the lack of any of his portfolio drawings. Telling of the creation of Audubon's ``Birds of America'' without showing even a snippet of his magnificant drawings is almost evil. If this book is hard to find, it's well worth the search

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Book that Sould Have Been Better, July 8, 2000

By	Reilly - See all my reviews

Shirley Streshinsky, the author of "Audubon," makes several mistakes common to authors, especially authors of biographies. A good editor at The University of Georgia Press could have and should have helped the author overcome these problems.

The book--over 400 pages--is over-written. It would have been far more interesting and readable if the manuscript had been trimmed by a third. The author, having done extensive research to gather hard-won facts, succumbed to the comon temptation of using facts because she had them.

The result is that what should be the theme and focus of the book is often buried in tedious and repetitious detail about travel plans, for example.

Here is a man of amazing genius. Able to things with his pastels and paints and pens that no one has ever been able to match. A facinating, driven man. Arrogant. Egotistical. Tireless. Obsessed. Willing to suffer every hardship, and sacrifice himself, his wife and sons, financial security, friendships his comfort and health--everything to achieve the single-minded purpose of producing the best, most complete pictures and words about America's birds.

All of this is covered in this book, but it is often buried under a so much minutia that the reader may lose focus of this brilliant man who accomplished so much with so little.

Another mistake the author and publisher make is to assume the reader has knowledge which the average reader may or may not have. Much of the book is about Audubon's extensive travels in the U.S. and Europe to sell subscriptions. But as near as I can tell from my careful reading, we are never told exactly what it is Audubon is selling subscriptions to.

We are told repeatedly about double-elephant folios, apparetly an over-sized paper for presenting Audubons's illustrations, but nowhere is a double-elephant filio described or defined.

Same goes for subscriptions to "the new octavo edition." What exactly is an octavo edition?

There is lots of discussion of the work of engravers, colorists, lithographers. But specifically what are these craftsmen doing? We are never told exactly. Whatever it is it apparently involves dozens of craftsmen working full time for years. Are they copying by hand Audubon's drawings onto metal plates? If so, how much of what we see is the faithful work of Audubon, and how much the art of engravers, colorists, lithographers?

You had better have a good memory for names as you read this book, or else makes notes as each of the dozens of new characters in the story are introduced. People brought into the story early often appear later with no reminders of who it is being talked about. The author remembers; the readers may not.

There is a section of illustrations in the book, all in black and white, all but one of people and places. Amazingly there is only one example of Audubon's brilliant artwork--a black and white sketch, unquestionably originally in color, of "A Robin Perched on a Mossy Stone." How can a book be presented about Audubon without including color examples of his brilliant work?

I was seriously disappointed by this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Birdman of the 1800's, July 20, 2006

By	Craig Dokken (Chandler, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author did alot of research on the subject and it shows in a great book on the life of James Audubon. It is a great story of American life in the early 1800's and Europe. The hardships this family went through to publish one of the worlds greatest books on birds. The love and support that a wife gave her husband and his sons that followed in his footsteps.