The Grand Rapids Art Museum will open an exhibition of Aududon Prints from the Shelburne Museum on April 15, 2011.

Birds of America is widely recognized by art historians and naturalists alike as the greatest natural history publication of all time. Between 1819 and 1838, John James Audubon and his engraver Robert Havell produced 435 hand-colored and engraved plates of scope and standard never before seen in ornithological recording. Thirty prints have been selected from the collection at Shelburne Museum to demonstrate the duality of Audubon’s work as both artistic compositions and scientific documentation. This exhibition features some of Audubon’s most desirable illustrations, admired for their life-size scale, compelling backgrounds, and often dramatic compositions.

Other than being part of “the greatest natural history publication of all time,” the works set for display are also extraordinarily beautiful.

Visit through August 14, 2011 and don’t forget to eat a wet burrito while in town.

On view at Grand Rapids Art Museum through May 30, 2010, Side By Side brings together the work of local artist Norman Chamberlain and his mentor, western Michigan’s most famous impressionist Mathias Alten, for the first time. Chamberlain worked closely with Alten beginning in the 1910s and extending through the 1930s. Together they traveled to the Netherlands, New Mexico, and southern California. Shown in pairs, the paintings in this small exhibition allow for comparison of the two artists styles and techniques.

Above is a detail of Chamberlain’s Untitled (Landscape) of 1927. The full painting is pictured after the jump.