John James Audubon

American bird researcher and painter. Born in Haiti in the West Indies, he traveled to France with his father at the age of four and began learning painting at the age of seven. At the age of 18, he moved to the United States and began studying English and birds while working on his father's farm near Philadelphia. At the age of 22, he moved to Kentucky and started a business, but it didn't go well, so he continued to paint birds despite his poverty. His painting method was a detailed pen drawing of each bird's feather, and he spent a lot of time observing birds in the field and collecting birds, aiming to be faithful to the ecology of birds. Although his work was not generally understood at first, he established an unshakable reputation in 1838 when he published "The Birds of America," a large-scale collection of 435 miniature bird drawings that he completed over 12 years. After his death in 1905, the Audubon Society was founded in his honor. At first it was a group of bird lovers and people who aimed to protect birds, but it soon grew to have nearly 500 chapters across the United States, and today it works to protect the environment as a whole, including nuclear power issues, and its scope extends to the entire world. In recent years, Audubon has been reevaluated in Japan as well. His house and paintings are preserved in Key West, Florida.

[Eiji Fujiwara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アメリカの鳥類研究家で画家。西インド諸島ハイチの生まれ。4歳のとき父とともにフランスに渡り、7歳から絵を習った。18歳でアメリカに渡り、フィラデルフィアの近くにあった父の農場で仕事をしながら英語の勉強と鳥の研究を始めた。22歳のときケンタッキー州へ移り、商売を始めたが思わしくなく、貧窮のうちに鳥の絵を描き続けた。描き方は鳥の羽の1枚1枚を詳しく描く細密ペン画法で、鳥の生態に忠実なことを目ざし、野外観察と採集に多くの時間を費やした。初めは一般に理解されなかったが、1838年に、12年がかりで描き上げた435枚の大版細密鳥類画集『アメリカの鳥類』を刊行して不動の地位を築いた。没後1905年に彼を記念してオーデュボン協会が設立された。当初は鳥の愛好家や鳥類保護を目ざす人たちの集まりだったが、やがてアメリカ全土に500弱もの支部ができるほどに発展し、今日では原子力問題など、環境全体の保全を目ざして活動するようになり、対象も全世界に及んでいる。日本でも近年オーデュボンが改めて見直されるようになった。フロリダのキー・ウェストには彼の家と絵が保存されている。

［藤原英司］

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