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December Issue 2007
Spartanburg Art Museum (SAM) in Spartanburg, SC, Offers Works by John James Audubon
The
Spartanburg Art Museum (SAM), located at the Chapman Cultural
Center in Spartanburg, SC, is proud to be presenting Spectacular
Achievements: Audubon's Animals of North America, featuring
selected works from the collection of the Museum of the Southwest
in Midland, TX, on view through Jan. 6, 2008.
The seventy original hand-colored lithographs on display from John James Audubon's (1785-1851) magnum opus, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, published between 1845 and 1848 by John T. Bowen of Philadelphia are the finest images of North American animals ever made.
In the late 1830s, as the details were being finalized for the completion of his monumental Birds of America project, Audubon began to collect material for an equally impressive study of North American animals. The Quadrupeds, proved more difficult than he had anticipated, as many native animals were nocturnal and their habits were hard to learn. He was greatly aided by his two sons, John Woodhouse and Victor and by his good friend, Dr. John Bachman, a Lutheran minister from Charleston, SC. The first specimens he collected were shipped to him at his home in New York preserved in barrels of rum. Audubon would later make the journey up the Missouri River in the footsteps of George Catlin, Karl Bodmer, and Alfred Jacob Miller to personally document the little-known wildlife of the frontier.
Like his Birds of America, the Quadrupeds are wonderfully animated, expertly executed, and beautifully printed in large (22" x 28") format. According to experts, only 300 complete sets of 150 images were sold by subscription making the works very rare.
Spectacular Achievements: Audubon's Animals of North America is a unique opportunity to view Audubon's lithographic works and to appreciate his skills as an artist, observer and interpreter of nature. The exhibit includes many glamorous and popular animals including: Ocelot, Jaguar, Lynx, Male Cougar, Female Cougar, Grizzly Bear, Beaver, Black Wolf, Red Texan Wolf, Wolverine, Virginia Opossum, Northern Hare, Cross Fox, Collared Peccary, Horned Antelope, and Columbian Black Tailed Deer to mention a few. As masterpieces of art and science that are entirely American, this exhibit is guaranteed to have wide audience appeal.
The showing here in Spartanburg is part of a twelve city national tour over a two and a half year period. The tour was developed and managed by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, an exhibition tour development company in Kansas City, MO.
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Museum at 864/582-7616 or visit (www.spartanburgartmuseum.org).
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