Audubon's Birds of America Focus Gallery

Experience John James Audubon’s spectacular watercolor models for the 435 plates of The Birds of America (1827–38) with their corresponding plates from the double-elephant-folio series, engraved by Robert Havell Jr.

The New York Historical houses the world's largest collection of work by the renowned artist and naturalist John James Audubon (1785–1851)? His landmark Birds of America (1827–38) comprises 435 lifelike and life-sized images glorifying the beauty of North American birds in the wild. While this work spurred early conservation efforts and remains central today to both environmental activism and the history of American art, it was produced within the complex system of racial oppression. Audubon was a slaveholder and defender of slaveholders’ rights, and he also enabled projects of scientific racism.

Visit the Birds of America Focus Gallery to learn more about Audubon. This intimate gallery—the only place in the world where one can see the artist's original watercolor models for The Birds of America; the corresponding plates from the double-elephant-folio series, engraved by Robert Havell Jr.; and the reduced octavo-edition exhibited together—features a bimonthly rotation that highlights a single species at a time. Each rotation includes additional watercolors and other works of art that further showcase the artist’s creative process, contributions to ornithological illustration, and complicated legacy. 

Note: Due to the watercolor medium and its paper support, these light-sensitive works can only be displayed for short periods of time under low-light levels. The gallery allows The New York Historical to share these national treasures with the public while preserving them for future generations.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website