My name is John James Audubon and I like to paint pictures of pretty
birds and animals, but especially birds. I like painting them, because
they are a part of nature and nature is awesome and pretty!
When we first became our own country in the 1700s, us American
artists just kept painting the way that people in Europe paint. In Europe
they mostly paint pictures that focus on people. But during the 1800s,
we decided
that we didn’t
want to copy
the Europeans
anymore; we
wanted to
make our own
style that was
unique to
America, so, in
the 1800s, us
American
artists started
painting
pictures of
nature. We
chose to paint
pictures of
nature because
in America we
This picture, called Kindred Spirits, was painted by Asher Durand in
have a lot of
1849. Notice how the picture focuses on nature, and not people.
open, pretty
land, which is something that they don’t have a lot of in Europe. Oh,
you hear that Europe! That’s right, we got more pretty land than you!
Albert Bierstadt is
one of the most
famous American
painters. He
painted a lot of
pictures that
definitely focused
on our beautiful
land, and not on
boring old guys like
the Europeans.
This was painted by Albert Bierstadt. What is the focus of this
painting?
As for me, I like to paint pictures of
animals. Since we have so much open
land here in America, we also have a
lot of different kind of animals living on
that land. I like to paint all kinds of
animals like bears, raccoons, and fish,
but more than anything, I love to paint
pictures of birds. I think I’ve painted
about every kind of bird that there is in
America. It’s awesome!
Speaking of birds, I think I see an eagle.
Well, I gotta’ go!
A painting of a turkey by John
James Audubon.
1. What did most American artists focus on during the 1800s? Why did
they choose to focus on this?
2. Look at the picture below. Do you think this is an American-style or a
European-style painting? Why?