Event: Birds of Enlightenment, Predecessors and Rivals of JJ Audubon
Time: March 17-June 10
Event Type: Museum Exhibit
Location: Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Cost: Admission Charged
Event Website: www.mmfa.org
Sponsor: Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
Contact: 334-240-4333
Info: TOn voyages of discovery from the 17th to the 19th centuries explorers sought out new species of animals and collected specimens or drawings that would be brought home to eager colleagues ready to carefully delineate new species, make engravings or lithographs, and publish them for presentation to the public all across Europe and America. These are the early years of scientific inquiry, best known as The Enlightenment. Dozens of publications organizing and describing the natural world appeared from the middle of the 16th century to the end of the 18th.
This exhibition from the personal collection of Professor Thomas Puryear of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, includes original bird illustrations from some 75 different publications that involved more than twice that many artists, editors, engravers, writers, printers, and illustrators who gave direction to this endeavor of cataloging the natural world.