Blame it on Audubon. Or How I became a fine art appraiser. Part Five.
With the advent of The Audubon Society and the 20th Century's interest in the environment Audubon's name is known throughout the world and his images of birds can be found everywhere, the rarest being his one of a kind watercolors, paintings, and drawings. These original works and his highly valuable hand colored ( aquatint) engravings and sets of books illustrated with color lithographs bring top prices at auction houses and fine art dealers. The first Audubon prints and boo
Blame it on Audubon: Part Four
I have always believed that it is not only the exhibition of works of art that makes our lives richer but also the opportunity to hear from the artists, experts and scholars who have dedicated their lives to understanding and appreciating fine art. During my twenty-five year career as an art school administrator and university art gallery director I had the task and good fortune to bring many brilliant artists, critics and scholars to campus to conduct a variety of workshops
Blame it on Audubon: Or how I became a fine art appraiser. Part Three
I have always loved books. I am absolutely convinced that this is entirely due to my childhood and the fact that our mother read to us on a regular basis. We had a fair number of books including sets of encyclopedias, dictionaries, the Latin and King James versions of the Bible and a number of classics, novels and non -fiction books. I remember my older brother reading Kenneth Roberts "Northwest Passage" (the likely inspiration for our childhood games) , and Thor Heyerdahl's
Blame it on Audubon. Or how I became a fine art appraiser, Part Two.
As I assembled my small library of Audubon books and read further, I was very pleased to find that Audubon was himself a highly dedicated writer who had kept journals of his travels and birding expeditions throughout his lifetime. One book, "Audubon in Florida" first published in 1974 from the University of Miami Press was especially helpful in identifying the birds that were the Florida species that he found and rendered life-sized in his original watercolors. The book's aut
Blame it on Audubon: Or how I became a fine art appraiser. Part One.
In April of 1998 a small museum in Central Florida hired me as a fine art consultant and Interim Director. The previous Director had left after having spent just a few weeks on the job. A very important exhibition of art by John James Audubon had been scheduled and publicized to open in the Fall. The ambitious show promised to include not only his large bird prints, but also some original works, rare books and a number of Audubon's personal items and letters. I thought this
