Plate 102 Blue Jay 

John James Audubon created this print of Blue Jays as part of his ambitious project to document all the birds of North America, a project that took him across the continent in the first half of the 19th century. Audubon was not just an artist, but also a self-trained naturalist, and his work reflects the growing scientific interest in the natural world during this period. But it's also important to remember the social context in which Audubon was working. The United States was expanding rapidly westward, and there was a growing sense of national identity tied to the land and its resources. Audubon's images captured this sense of national pride, but they also reflected the complex relationship between humans and nature at a time when the wilderness was both admired and exploited. To better understand Audubon's work, we might turn to historical archives, scientific literature, and accounts of early American expansion. Art, here, is a product of its time, shaped by social, cultural, and institutional forces.