A magnificent portfolio of Audubon's communications, a personal description of his craft and forty-eight brilliant reproductions of Audubon's original watercolors.

"...the most magnificent monument to ornithology ever raised – if Mr. Audubon's work is completed – with the magnificence of its execution, we must admit that America has outdone the old world".

1828 quotation from Baron G. Cuvier
Member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris

Fascinated by John James Audubon, his work as well as his personality, I wanted to go back to the sources with the original watercolors used for the making of the Birds of America.

It would take more than a lifetime to see all of his watercolors in the New York Historical Society since the museum displays only a few at a time. The purpose of this book is to show more of his work. The forty watercolors I chose from the New York Historical Society are accompanied by eight drawings from his youth to illustrate the process described in "My Style of Drawing Birds".

From a technical point of view, I wondered what Audubon himself would have done if he were still alive today. I thus prepared this book with the most advanced techniques available today in order to capture the original freshness of his watercolors.

Pascal Jeanjean
Publisher