American Museum of Natural History. Bird Art Gallery.

Exist Dates

1939 - 1953

Biographical or Historical Note

abstract

Permanent exhibition. Opened June 6, 1939 and closed approximately 1949-1953. Located on Floor 4, Section 19. The Bird Art Gallery at the American Museum of Natural History exhibited paintings of birds. It was part of three halls in the Whitney Wing, which formally opened to the public on June 6, 1939 and included the Sanford Memorial Hall of the Biology of Birds and the Whitney Memorial Hall of Oceanic Birds (1, 1939, p. 8).

The Gallery included paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Joseph Wolf, and original plates from ornithological monographs by Daniel Giraud Elliot. The gallery displayed two large oil paintings from the Museum’s collection of Audubonia, one by John James Audubon showing a dog surprising pheasants and another by his sons Victor and John Woodhouse Audubon. The rest of the Audubonia paintings were exhibited in the fourth floor ambulatory of the Roosevelt Memorial immediately adjoining (1, 1938, p. 2; 2, 1939, p. 85).

The section (Q) of the fourth floor where the Bird Art Gallery was housed appears in General Guides in the 1950’s, but the space is not identified as a functioning hall. The last time the Bird Art Gallery is named as a public hall is the 1949 General Guide (2, 1949, p. 19).

Sources

(1) American Museum of Natural History. Annual Reports. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1938-1939.

(2) American Museum of Natural History. General Guide to [the Exhibition Halls of] the American Museum of Natural History. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1939-1949.

Information for the hall appears in the following Museum publications:

American Museum of Natural History Annual Reports for years 1930 p. 44; 1938 p. 2; 1939 p. 8

American Museum of Natural History General Guides for years 1939 p. 85; 1943 p. 88; 1945 p. 88; 1939 p. 19; 1943 p. 19; 1945 p. 19; 1947 p. 19; 1949 p. 19; 1953 Floor plans

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Related Corporate, Personal, and Family Names

Audubon, John James 1785-1851
Paintings exhibited in gallery (2, 1939, p. 85).

Audubon, John Woodhouse 1812-1862
Painting exhibited in gallery (2, 1939, p. 85).

Audubon, Victor Gifford, 1809-1860
Painting exhibited in gallery (2, 1939, p. 85).

Bird Paintings by Major Allan Brooks (Exhibition)
associated dates: 1941 September 22-1941 November 30

Bird and Landscape Watercolors (Exhibition)
associated dates: 1941 March 24-1941 April 30

Birds of Shakespeare (Exhibition)
associated dates: 1940 December 14-1941 January 1

Elliot, Daniel Giraud 1835-1915
Ornithology monographs exhibited in gallery (2, 1939, p. 85).

Fuertes, Louis Agassiz 1874-1927
Paintings exhibited in gallery (2, 1939, p. 85).

Wild Birds of Northern Minnesota (Exhibition)
associated dates: 1940 September 21-1940 October 5

Related Resources

subjectOf

Historic Halls of the American Museum of Natural History
Curated digital images of permanent halls in the American Museum of Natural History Library, Digital Special Collections.

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