Collection: Property from the Estate of Elaine and James D. Wolfensohn

LANSDOWNE, J. FENWICK

Rare Birds of China. London: Kennedy Fine Arts, (1992). Copy 37 of 100, with each plate signed and numbered in pencil, and the same numeration in the companion text volume. Loose sheets in the elephant folio blue fabric case of publication, the text in a companion volume in wrappers laid-in, the prospectus included; the whole protected in the canvas sleeve of issue. 32 x 25 inches (81 x 63 cm); 32 superb color collotypes after the original watercolor paintings, printed on Fabriano paper; each plate is laid into a special printed Japanese paper sleeve with the plate name. Fine; Offered with the original watercolor for the plate of the Taiwan Magpie (urocissa caerulea), plate 10 in the set. Watercolor over pencil outline on paper, approximately 28 x 19 5/8 inches (71.5 x 50 cm) sight, signed J. F. Lansdowne (l.l.) and dated 1991; framed. In immaculate condition.

The watercolors by J. Fenwick Lansdowne for this work are among the highest achievements of ornithological art. The Taiwan Magpie, depicted here, is represented by a male and female specimen in their natural habitat.

This elephant-folio-sized set of ornithological plates, a triumph in their artistry, follows in the tradition of the great illustrated natural history monographs of the past centuries, such as Audubon's masterpiece, The Birds of America. The artist, J. Fenwick Lansdowne, was born in 1937 in Hong Kong to British parents and grew up in British Columbia, Canada. Stricken with polio as a baby, he developed both his love of birds and his talent as a painter from a young age, holding his first museum exhibition in 1952 at the Royal British Columbia Museum when he was just fourteen years old. As one of the world's foremost wildlife painters, often referred to as Audubon's successor, he is the artist who best maintained the tradition of bird painting and publishing into the late 20th century. Similar to Audubon, he would both study his subjects in the field and use museum collections of preserved specimens to paint his highly detailed and accurate watercolors. He died in Canada in 2008.

The magnificent collotype plates include the following: Impeyan Monal Lophophorus impejanus; Temminck's Tragopan Tragopan temminckii; Satyr Tragopan Tragopan satyra; Swinhoe's Pheasant Lophura swinhoei; Elliot's Pheasant Syrmaticus ellioti; Mikado Pheasant Syrmaticus mikado; Blood Pheasant Ithaginis cruentus; Brown Eared Pheasant Crossoptilon mantchuricum; Himalayan Snowcock Tetraogallus himalayensis; Taiwan Magpie Urocissa caerulea; Chinese Parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei; Siberian Crane Grus leucogeranus; Rufous-necked Hornbill Aceros nipalensis; White Stork Iconia ciconia; Crested Ibis Nipponia nippon; White Eared Pheasant Crossoptilon crossoptilon; Japanese Crane Grus japonensis; Cabot's Tragopan Tragopan caboti; Mrs. Hume's Pheasant Syrmaticus humiae; Steller's Sea Eagle Haliarrtus pelagicus; Oriental Hobby Falco severus; Chinese Monal Lophophorus ihuysii; Omei Shan liocichla Liocichla omeiensis; Silver Oriole Oriolus mellianus; Blyth's Tragopan Tragopan blythii; Firethroat Erithacus pectardens; Scaly-sided Merganser Mergus squamatus; White-necked Crane Grus vipio; Fulien Slaty Bunting Latoucheornis siemsseni; Sclater's Monal Lophophorus sclateri; Black-necked Crane Grus nigricollis; Brown Wood Owl Strix leptogrammica.