Audubon and Wilson
(This column was first published in
the June 13, 2004 issue of The Buffalo Sunday News.)
Tomorrow evening, June 14th at 7 p.m. in WBFO's
theater in Allen Hall on the University at Buffalo South Campus William Souder
will read from his new book Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the
Making of the Birds of America. A reception and book signing will follow. Souder's host
will be WBFO music director Bert Gambini. The event is free and open to the
public.
On
my bookshelves are three other very good and quite recent Audubon commentaries:
Alice Ford's 1988 John James Audubon: A Biography, Shirley Streshinsky's 1993 Audubon:
Life and Art in the American Wilderness and the Library of America 1999 John
James Audubon: Writings & Drawings.
Why
then do we need another Audubon biography?
I
for one am quite happy to have this new volume about this remarkable
ornithologist and artist. Aside from the fact that millions of bird watchers -
and in particular Audubon Society members - will always enjoy another book
about their patron saint, Souder approaches Audubon quite differently.
Of
most interest to me is his focus on Audubon's relationships with another
important early American ornithologist, his contemporary, Alexander Wilson.
Here
is what Elsa Allen has to say about Wilson in her authoritative History
of American Ornithology before Audubon:
"With
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) a new era in American ornithology opens. He has
given us 320 figures of American birds, representing 262 species. Of these, 39
were new to science, and 23 others were sufficiently described to differentiate
them from European species with which they had been confused.
"How
is it, then, that the name of Alexander Wilson is so unfamiliar? There are two
principal reasons for this: one, his untimely death at forty-seven,
before he finished his proposed ten-volume work; and two, his close juxtaposition in point
of time to the great bird artist, John James Audubon (1785-1851). The
brilliance of the Audubon fame, with the inordinate commercialization which it
has undergone, has blinded us to the hard-working Scot who came to America in
1794 without a friend or a farthing to aid him. A man of meager ability we are
told, of unattractive personality his biographer says, with a quixotic scheme
of writing and illustrating a great work on American birds; surely such a man,
though a fund of genius lay hidden in his work, was no match for the talented
Audubon.
"It
would he vain to attempt to remold the judgment of a century, but it should be
pointed out that Wilson never took the position to which he was entitled both
by priority and by certain scientific powers. Instead, Audubon, riding on the
wave of bird interest that swept the late nineteenth century, has been lavished
with praise, to the almost complete exclusion of a very able
ornithologist."
Of
course, Souder sees the inevitable comparison of the two from Audubon's side but
he is, I believe, quite fair in his consideration of their very different
talents.
Of
special interest is the first meeting of Wilson and Audubon because it seems to
me such a shocking event for Wilson.
Think
of yourself in Wilson's role. The year is 1810 and you are developing a
reputation as an ornithologist with publication of the second volume of your
American Ornithology. As an artist, however, you are self-trained
and the drawings you have produced appear today flat and lifeless.
You
are now on an extended tour of this young country to sell subscriptions to your
work and to collect more information about birds - mainly by shooting them.
You've ridden horseback and boated from Philadelphia all the way through the
wilderness to Cincinnati and now you stop at a local store to try to talk one
of the managers into purchasing your series.
The
manager declines but he shows you his own bird paintings. They put your meager
art to shame for the man you have approached is Audubon himself.
That
experience must have been like a hard blow to the stomach.
And their reaction? Audubon later
bragged about this confrontation. Wilson, on the other hand, seemed to hide it.
Here are his journal entries: "March 19 Rambling round the town with my
gun; examined Mr. ---'s drawings in crayons - very good." March 20:
"Went out shooting this afternoon with Mr. A." But finally on March
22: "Science or literature has not one friend in this place."
The two were very different, both
touchy, each to make major contributions to North American ornithology. Today
Audubon is best remembered for his paintings, Wilson for his natural history,
but there is significant overlap. Both deserve our recognition and
esteem.-- Gerry Rising
A wonderful French and English website about Audubon that includes a brief biographical sketch and all of his 435 bird paintings is mounted by the French Musee de la civilization.