Evening star., 1939-08-20
Audubon's
Paintings
Shown
Famous Artist
Had Strange
Origin
By Leila MechHn.

neither made invention nor discovery
they would both have been entitled
to fame through their achievement
as painters. Especially was this true
of Audubon, in as much as 1t was
primarily through his art that he
made the birds of America known
to the world. In fact, Audubon was
born, it would seem, with artistic
instinct; he drew from childhood
with ease, using pencil and paint as
perfectly natural media of express
sion, and he had, what is more, the
typical artistic temperament, which,
while it at times plunged him into
difficulties, also helped him over
many rough places on his road Of life.
This summer Audubon, the ar
tist, is being brought to attention
through representation in two nota-
Bile exhibitions in New York, that of
Life in America for Three Hundred
Years" at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, and that of American Art
During the Past Century" shown by
the National Academy of Design, in
compliment to the New York
Worlds Fair and its countless Wis
itors. In the former Audubon is
represented by three paintings-one
of a wild turkey and two portraits,
all three in oils: in the latter by
print from one his water colors.
The painting of the Wild Tur-
mately 46 by 33 inches in dimen-
sions. and shows great competence
in brushwork as we'll as keenness of
observation. The handsome bird.
which, by the way, Audubon never
tired of depicting, is represented
stepping forward with head turned
back in an attitude of alert atten-
ton. The figure is well placed on
the canvas and the plumage magni-
ficently portrayed The background
is chiefly sky, but there is enough
suggestion of earth and plant life
to give pictorial setting. This must
have been a comparatively late
work, as he did not take up oil
painting until about 1926 or con-
slider himself proficient in the use of
the medium for some years there
after. 1t is owned and lent by Mr..
and Mrs. Victor Morris Tyler.
OF the portraits, one is lent by the
Mellon Educational and Charitable
Trust from the collection presum-
ably included in Mr. Melons gift to
the Nation, while the other comes
from the Rochester Memorial Gal
lery. The former is comparatively
small canvas, IA inches high by II
inches wide, and represents Mrs.
James Mowatt (Anna Cora OGDEN :,
a fashionable actress of the 1840s,
starring in Fashion, or Life in New
York" which had quite a vogue.
and also "The Lady of Lyons" 1t
Is full length, showing the actress
IN a formal garden, standing rather
stiffly and staidly in very unlovely
dress of the period with a parasol in
her right hand but it does, through
its honesty, carry conviction. So,
perhaps, might Audubon have
painted a little Jenny wren had he
been able to persuade one to stand
for him with such evident quietness
and fortitude.
Impressive Quality.
More impressive in living quality
is the larger portrait from the
Rochester Memorial Art Gallery,
which, by the way, is of none other
than Nathaniel Rochester, from
whom the little town in the Genesee
country which is now the great city
OF Rochester takes its name. Mr..
Rochester, whose dates were 1852
1881, merchant and banker of North
Carolina and of Hagerstown, Md,
followed the trail of business into
New York State-and certainly
made good Audubon painted him
life size on canvas about 80 by 25
inches in dimensions, gravely and
very well, as an elderly. spectacled
gentleman, firm of character and
capable of surmounting obstacles.
Perhaps in the painting Audubon
remembered some of the obstacles
which he himself had to surmount.
but if so the memory was probably
fitting, for such rarely found roost-
ing place in the great painter-nat-
uralist's mind. Audubon never
signed his portraits, therefore wide
ly scattered throughout the Middle
West many are unidentified.
1t was through painting portraits
HhQt hySy,hNt, 70
living, or more truly keep alive, for
many times he must have been on
the verget Of starvation. But few
dollars in his pocket, a square meal
tucked away and the wilderness be-
fore him, every prospect became
rosy and he went forward with not
only courage, but glee. The first
portrait he ever drew was of Lucy
Bakewell of Fatland Ford near Mill
Grove, Pa, where as a very young
man he came from France to go
into the milling business. He was
In love with Lucy at the time and
had the great good fortune later of
marrying her, for no artist ever had
a more devoted and intelligent wife.
This marriage. Audubon himself
said many times, compensated him
for all the hardships which came to
him.
Audubon was a wanderer. He
loved the wilderness and knew not
the meaning of fear. From Pennsyl-
vania he went to Louisville, KY,
where he established a store and
trading post. Later he moved to
Henderson, whence he went deeper
and deeper into the new country,
until finally he found himself in
New Orleans. There was no photog-
raphy in those days, hence the
itinerant artist had a good chance
to turn penny by means of portrait
painting or drawing. The prices
obtained were not high-ranging
usually from IS to 500, but rarely
the latter, occasionally no more than
a nights lodging and good dinner;
however, such orders enabled this
painter to do that which he preferred
q IL i l-.-