Museum Open

If John James Audubon had been less avian in his ambitions, he might have made a career as a portrait painter, which is how, on occasion, he supported himself while longing to paint birds and “go in pursuit of those beautiful and happy creatures.” Had he taken the human route, the galleries of the New-York Historical Society, which are now given over to an extraordinary assemblage of more than 200 watercolors of beautiful (if not happy) herons, owls, woodpeckers, ravens, rails, falcons, blue jays and their fellows, might instead be presenting portraits of early-19th-century Americans. Read more . . .