The Unknown Audubons: Mammals of North America (Exhibition)

Exist Dates

2007 March 31 - 2009 January 15

Biographical or Historical Note

abstract

Exhibition. Opened March 31, 2007 and closed January 15, 2009. Located in Section 12A, Floor in the Audubon Gallery at the American Museum of Natural History. The Unknown Audubon: Mammals of North America featured more than 50 of the Museum’s rarely exhibited collection of original paintings, drawings, and prints of mammals by John James Audubon (1785-1851), and his sons John Woodhouse Audubon (1812-1862) and Victor Gifford Audubon (1809-1860) and placed Audubon's life and art in the context of protecting endangered ecosystems. The opening of the exhibition coincided with the renovation and re-opening of the Audubon Gallery after it had been closed to the public for decades.

Summary

The Unknown Audubon: Mammals of North America highlighted the Museum’s rarely exhibited collection of original paintings, drawings, and prints of mammals by John James Audubon (1785-1851), and his sons John Woodhouse Audubon (1812-1862) and Victor Gifford Audubon (1809-1860) and placed Audubon life and art in the context of protecting endangered ecosystems. The exhibition also featured a complete edition of the three-volume Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America and Audubon’s dueling pistols (1, p. 4, 50; 2).

This is a condensed summary of the exhibition. For additional information, see Sources and/or Related Resources.

Sources

(1) American Museum of Natural History. Annual Report. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 2007-2008.

(2) American Museum of Natural History. "The Unknown Audubons: Mammals of North America.” [2007] [brochure]

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Related Corporate, Personal, and Family Names

American Museum of Natural History. Audubon Gallery.
Location of exhibition 2007 March 31 – 2009 January 15 (1 p. 4, 50; 2)

Audubon, John James 1785-1851
Featured artist (1, p. 50)

Audubon, John Woodhouse 1812-1862
Featured artist (1, p. 50)

Audubon, Victor Gifford, 1809-1860
Featured artist (1, p. 50)

Related Resources

American Museum of Natural History. Annual Report. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 2007-2008.
Pages 4, 50

American Museum of Natural History Special Collections vertical files 
Repository: AMNH Special Collections [Exhibition brochure; news articles]

Camp at the foot of the Three Mammelles [art original] : Thursday July [27], 1843 / by J.J. Audubon.
Date of resource: [1843]; 1 drawing : pencil on paper ; 26 x 36 cm.

The quadrupeds of North America / by John James Audubon and John Bachman.
Date of resource: 1849-1854; 3 v. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.

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