Bird Art Gallery

Dates

• Existence: 1939 - 1953

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).

Summary

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).

REFERENCES

(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

Alternate Name Forms

Outline:

• Uncontrolled name from AMNH publications (dates of use by year)
• Gallery of Bird Paintings (1930)
• Whitney Gallery of Bird Art (1938)
• Gallery of Bird Art (1939, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1949)
• Bird Art Gallery (1939, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1949, 1953)

Places

• New York (N.Y.)
  • Note: AMNH: Floor 4, Section 19

Topics

• AMNH Permanent Exhibitions