Birds : the Art of Ornithology

Birds have fascinated mankind for thousands of years.  Jonathan Elphick notes that birds are found among ancient cave art.  In ‘Birds: The Art of Ornithology’ Mr. Elphick distils art associated with the scientific study and natural history of birds over the last several hundred years.  The book focuses on paintings by UK artists since 1650, primarily drawing upon artwork held by the Natural History Museum in London.  Four main chapters are arranged in chronological order covering 1650 – 1800, 1800 – 1850, 1850 – 1890, and 1890 – today.
This volume is much more than a picture book.  Approximately one third of the book is well-written text.  The other two-thirds consists of plates complete with detailed figure captions.  The text is largely a series of short artist biographies.  The biography of John James Audubon is by far the longest, as approximately 14 pages.  Some biographies are a paragraph.  I found numerous interesting stories interjected into these biographies including Rembrandt and the Great Bittern, how in some instances artwork has been used as type specimens serving as the basis for formal descriptions of new species, and the meeting between Alexander Wilson and Audubon.  My heart broke reading of the time 200 of Audubon’s paintings and almost 800 drawings were destroyed by rats.   Nor I did not appreciate how much effort early artists expended raising money from subscribers to pay for publication of their work.
The book will primarily be of interest to a UK audience drawn to both art and science.  The majority of the artists are from the UK or spent much of their career working in the UK.  The paintings selected were mostly by artists who focused on illustrating books or documenting the avifauna of a new region.  This is not a book about birds in fine art (versus applied art).  Alexander Wilson, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Léo Paul Samuel Robert, Bruno Liljefors, Eric Ennion, Roger Tory Peterson, and Robert Bateman are mentioned, but none of their paintings are shown.  The artists Don Eckelberry, Guy Coheleach, and Ned Smith are not mentioned.  Apparently, nor are any artists native to Russia, China, South America or Africa, to my knowledge.
I recommend the book as a good overview of applied art from UK artists and a fine complement to books like ‘Fine Bird Books, 1700-1900’ by Sacheverell Sitwell, ‘Twentieth Century Wildlife Artists’ by Nicholas Hammond, and 'The Wildlife Art of Ned Smith' by Scott Weidensaul.

Book reviewed by Mark Miller