The Challenge for Academic Excellence
Sprouls Appointed Engineering Chair
Braysmith's teaching earns recognition
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| Issue 3: September 2002 |
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USI makes art history
After a hiatus of more than 160 years,
an original John James Audubon copper plate went back to
work August 1, when Michael Aakhus,
professor of art, pulled an impression from its carved and etched surface in
the Art Studio at USI.
The plate, purchased by the Friends of Audubon and Preston Family Foundation last year, is part of the collection at the John James Audubon Museum in Henderson. When the museum's support group spearheaded its acquisition, the "Friends" obtained the right to make restrikes from the plate as well.
Restrikes, prints pulled from original copper plates without the input or direct involvement of the artist or engraver, have been done in the past. The most notable restrikes are called the Alectos, which were commissioned by the American Museum of Natural History.
Audubon Museum's plate, which depicts a male and a female tell-tail godwit, is one of only 78 remaining plates of the original 435 used in Audubon's four-volume masterpiece, The Birds of America. The plates were last used by a London printer in 1838.
Roughly 30 years later, Audubon's impoverished widow sold all of the plates to a foundry to be melted down as scrap metal. Seventy-eight were saved when the foundry foreman's son convinced his mother to intervene.
Don Boarman, curator of the Audubon Museum, said the results of the USI printing were encouraging. The museum, located on U.S. 41-North, displays priceless artifacts of the premier natural history and wildlife artist of the 19th century who lived in Henderson for a number of years. Its collection includes a rare edition of The Birds of America as well as the copper plate used in the restriking at USI, which utilized the intaglio printing process.
The University will retain two of the seven prints pulled on campus. More information about Audubon Museum is available at www.hendersonky.org/audubon.
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