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.

Pioneering works of natural history illustration on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

Interest in the natural world over the course of the 19th-century generated an enormous visual record produced by artists and naturalists alike. Fascination with detail forms a constant thread, even as debates raged over the best way to display, exhibit, and record “discoveries.” Feathers, Fins, and Fur: Natural History Illustration of the 19th-Century privileges the works of Alexander Wilson and John James Auduboun, and introduces a range of lesser known illustrators. Additionally, the exhibition draws from the institution’s library collection to explore preservation of natural artifact through print.

On view through May 23, 2010.

Above -  H. Patterson, Sebastes Marmoratus, 1856.