the study Audubon prints: color This is a subsection of a larger discussion on Audubon prints. The information presented here is not sufficient for authenticating a print. To begin from the beginning, please read the overview. The Bien edition is the only major Audubon edition that is not hand-colored. It was produced by chromolithography (with touches of watercolor added by hand to some prints). In chromolithography, the color as well as the image is applied through the use of lithographic stones. Although the color on chromolithographs shows a pattern of dots, these dots are irregular and cruder-looking than those produced by offset lithography. It should be noted, however, that some forms of reproduction (such as collotype) do not produce dots under magnification. You may read that the later octavo editions of Birds of America have printed rather than hand-coloring. This is not true. All octavo prints are hand-colored, but most also have a printed color background, usually in the form of a rectangle or oval, that often includes a suggestion of clouds. Typical colors for this background are pale aqua or beige. The only octavo edition entirely lacking in this background is the first edition of the octavo birds (1839-1844). The tinted background was introduced in the first edition of the octavo quadrupeds (1849-1854), and the Audubons (and their successors) used it thereafter for all reprints of the octavo birds and the octavo quads.
Last updated 02.28.09 |
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