Plate 121 Snowy Owl 

Curator: This watercolor illustration is "Plate 121 Snowy Owl," by John James Audubon. Editor: The texture in the owls' feathers is striking! I’m immediately drawn to how they are placed in relation to each other: one alert, the other leaning curiously towards us. Curator: Indeed! Audubon's bird portraits broke from earlier conventions by portraying birds in active, dynamic poses, and often in relation to each other or within a greater ecological scene. Think about the Romantic movement and its obsession with nature. Editor: It also makes the composition a very specific configuration of light and dark. The darkness of the background really makes their white plumage stand out, and it's intriguing how much detail he uses. Do you think this play of contrast serves symbolic purposes, in this particular imagery of Snowy Owls? Curator: Symbolism? Perhaps suggesting purity against the murkiness of a corrupted nature, maybe even an allusion to an idealized America, though the owls themselves seem less symbols than subjects studied with an objective naturalism. There’s a political dimension, I think, to Audubon's desire to map and illustrate every species. Editor: True, though that scientific impulse, when combined with such expressive artistic rendering, definitely adds emotional depth! Even something simple like the stark horizontal line where he divides sky and ground evokes a particular emotional mood: the dark setting with just enough diffused light hinting something mysterious beyond, a world not quite understood. Curator: Absolutely! He certainly wasn't just passively observing. These prints contributed to defining how 19th-century Americans thought about themselves, about wilderness, and the place of wildlife in an industrializing nation. They encouraged engagement! Editor: An enduring impact on ornithology as much as artistic rendering. I am drawn to the relationship between nature, emotion and knowledge reflected in Audubon’s vision. Curator: And on the narratives we construct surrounding nature still. His birds represent both what we’ve preserved and what we have altered through the impact of changing cultures.