~GREGG HERTZLIEB~
JOHN
JAMES AUDUBON: PURPLE GRACKLE
Page
after page of Audubon’s writings about the grackle
describe in colorful prose
specific behaviors but also portray
the blackbirds as fascinating
creatures who are intricately
related to their environment, actively
engaged in numerous
complex behaviors that enable their lives, and the
lives
of many other organisms, to contribute to nature’s processes.
The Brauer Museum of Art is
proud to have in its permanent collection a fine work by the legendary
American artist/naturalist John James Audubon. Purple Grackle, generously
purchased for the Brauer’s collection by the donor group known as the
Circle of Friends, demonstrates well the level of realism, accuracy,
and pictorial inventiveness the artist brought to his major documentary
project, The Birds of America.
Purple Grackle is
a type of original print known as an engraving, a medium that involves
the artist or printer carving lines into the surface of a metal
plate. The engraving is accompanied in this image and others in
the Birds of America printed
volume by another print process known as aquatint, a method that allows
the artist or printer to achieve tonal effects since engraving is by
its nature exclusively linear. The images in The Birds of America reflect an
important collaboration between artist and printer, separate
individuals in this instance but not necessarily so in every
case. Audubon executed numerous watercolors of the various bird
species, meticulously capturing the likeness of each bird in an
endeavor that, to the mind of this author, represents the finest
blending of art and science. To make his bird representations
more available through a means of producing multiples, Audubon worked
with the skilled British printer and colorist Robert Havell (1793-1878)
to create hand-colored engravings that were bound together in large
volumes of which an estimated 200 were made. Bound volumes of the
Havell first edition Birds of America
are prized and extremely rare, and individual Havell Edition prints are
prized by collectors and museums, as well. The Brauer Museum is
fortunate to own a Havell print, purchased from a gallery in Chicago
that specializes in vintage Audubon pieces.
Audubon’s project of recording visually every
American bird species is truly remarkable. Each image in The Birds of America shows the
subjects in dynamic and interesting poses, impressing viewers with
their dignity. Background details are typically kept to a minimum
to allow viewers to concentrate on the body structure and plumage of
these lovely birds. An appreciation of their beauty
and complexity seems to lead logically to a viewer desire for
understanding, perhaps resulting in a more peaceful coexistence between
man and animal. Audubon’s concerns through his grand project may
have been primarily aesthetic for long periods of his work on The Birds of America, but his
educational motivations are key and impress viewers even today as they
compare and contrast the artist’s representations of the most exotic
birds and the most common. The artist, in his accompanying
writings about each individual bird species, carefully and thoroughly
explains the habits and anatomical traits of the birds by charmingly
including poetic and spiritual comments that reflect the intertwined
natures of art and science during the mid nineteenth century.
Thus, in explaining that grackles, for example, are fond of eating
grubs, he also says that these unassuming and often ignored birds in
fact protect a major food source for this country and achieve a level
of nobility by keeping the
corn largely free of pests. For Audubon, these birds are God’s
creatures, deserving of respect and admiration for going about their
work despite ceasing to be seen by humans who take their large numbers
and constant presence for granted. Page after page of Audubon’s
writings about the grackle describe in colorful prose
specific behaviors but also portray the blackbirds as fascinating
creatures who are intricately related to their environment, actively
engaged in numerous complex behaviors that enable their lives, and the
lives of many other organisms, to contribute to nature’s processes.
Audubon and Havell’s collaboration resulted, in the
case of Purple Grackle, in a
printed image that has the most exquisite pictorial surface.
Think of feathers or corn silk, both composed of fine and minute
elements that are basically linear. Havell, working from
Audubon’s detailed source image, used the fineness of the engraving
medium and the luminous potential of watercolor to recreate pictorially
the sheen and layered effect of the birds’ feathered bodies and the
rich, varied textures of the corn plants. Here is an instance of
artistic shorthand or method of transcription perfectly suiting the
subject matter to create an image that satisfies in its level of
illusion. Although the birds and corn appear substantial and
fully realized, the many thin lines composing these subjects and glazed
washes of watercolor give a feeling of lightness to the picture; up
close, viewers can appreciate the layers and level of detail, while
from further back viewers can admire the realism Audubon and Havell
together achieved.
Richard Brauer and I looked at many Audubon bird
images before selecting Purple
Grackle. We firmly believed that Audubon, a major
historical figure, needed to be represented in the museum’s collection
of American art. While many breathtaking Havell Edition images
exist and made selection of one image difficult, Brauer and I felt that
an Audubon piece would achieve its maximum impact if the particular
bird related significantly to the geographical area in which the museum
is located. Art museums, after all, have a responsibility to
their visiting public in educating them not only about art’s
developments on a grand scale, but also the way art relates to a
specific community. Audubon through his art urged viewers to
appreciate the purple grackle, and the Brauer Museum of Art, through
its display of a splendid Audubon creation, urges viewers also to
examine the world around them and admire even the ever-present
blackbirds scurrying among the ears of corn to ensure both animal and
human survival.
© by Gregg
Hertzlieb
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