Audubon: life and art in the American wilderness

Abstract

In 1803, an eighteen-year-old West Indies-born Frenchman arrived in New York City, fleeing Napolean's conscription. His Name was John James Audubon, and his life's work would become inextricably entwined with the new world he so proudly adopted in his motto America, my country.Dreamer, vagabond, romantic, and genius, was an archetype of the passionate and steadfast frontiersman. His turbulent life was a fusion of personal daring, tenacity, and boundless devotion to the land he came to love above all. Combining meticulous scholarship with the dramatic life story of a naturalist and pioneer, Audubon reexamines the artist's journals and letters in the first new biography of to come out in almost thirty years. life of John James is not only the story of one artist's quest but also a meditation on the origins of the American spirit and the sacrifice that resulted in one of the worlds' greatest bodies of art: The Birds of America. This is the story of a legendary artist and an eternal American hero.