Capturing Nature: The Writings and Art of John James Audubon - Hardcover

Audubon, John James; Roop, Peter; Roop, Connie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802782043 ISBN 13: 9780802782045

Publisher: Walker & Co, 1993

Synopsis

Uses the words of Audubon himself, selected from various sources, to present an account of the life and work of this nineteenth-century naturalist.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Explaining that ``Our selections, with minor editing, come from Maria Audubon (1986), Audubon and His Journals,'' the Roops choose passages that outline Audubon's life, work, and thought, effectively evoking a man for whom painting birds was ``almost a mania,'' who ``would even give up doing a head, the profits of which would have supplied our wants for a week, to represent a citizen of the feathered tribe,'' and who wondered prophetically about imminent effects of ``the surplus population of Europe coming to assist in the destruction of the forest.'' The book is attractively furnished with excellent reproductions (titled but not dated); Farley's rather stolid paintings suffer by comparison, ironically underlining Audubon's skill. The text, offered without dates or ellipses, sounds retrospective rather than like a journal; readers capable enough to cope with its vocabulary would be better served by having more clues to specific sources. A chronology and index, too, are wanting. Still, lucid and attractive. List of secondary sources. (Autobiography. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-7. Culled from the diaries of the famous painter and naturalist John James Audubon, the text of this book reads smoothly as an autobiography. Beginning with his life as a spoiled child in France, Audubon recounts his budding fascination with wildlife and with art, which eventually flowered in the publication of his Birds of America. But first, Audubon came to America to avoid serving in Napoleon's army, nearly drowned in a freezing river, married and moved to the frontier, started a business, lost his inherited fortune, went into debt, and finally resolved to support his family through his lifelong talent for observing and painting birds. Each turn of the page brings another full-color illustration, either a reproduction of an Audubon print or a modern painting showing a scene from the diary. The two work surprisingly well together, a tribute to the publisher's skill in designing this handsome book and to illustrator Farley's approach to the artwork. Keep this in mind for autobiography assignments and classroom units on early-nineteenth-century America. Carolyn Phelan

About this edition

• Publisher: Walker & Co
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0802782043
• ISBN 13: 9780802782045
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 39