Buller's Birds of New Zealand: The Complete Work of JG Keulemans

by Geoff Norman, Stephen Fry (Foreword)

New Zealand’s best-loved birds come alive in luminous color in Buller’s Birds of New The Complete Work of JG Keulemans . This beautiful new edition—now in a smaller, more accessible format—presents the full set of these cherished 19th-century artworks created by JG Keulemans for A History of the Birds of New Zealand by Walter Buller. With a foreword by Stephen Fry and an introduction that traces the history of ornithological painting and tells the story of Buller and his talented artist, this definitive book will appeal to all those who love New Zealand’s unique avifauna.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art

164 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2012

Reviews

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If heavy book with big big pictures. I think the cover title is confusing. It was a picture book for me but there’s heaps to read about Buller, I guess.

[Shaun Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

New Zealand ornithologist Walter Buller was a somewhat controversial figure, sometimes maligned for shooting native birds through his role as a collector. But as author Geoff Norman points out, Buller was a man of his times, and we have him to thank for two editions of A History of the Birds of New Zealand – among the finest examples of nineteenth century natural history publishing. Both editions showcased the exquisite work of John Gerrard Keulemans, one of the world’s most accomplished natural history artists.

Norman has for the first time brought together images from both editions, plus a later supplement, all beautifully reproduced from the original Keulemans watercolours, and presented in this gorgeous casebound volume. With gold-edged paper, a debossed huia on the cover, and the highest production standards, this is a book to savour.

Trampers will particularly delight in the much less known images from the first edition, which include vibrant portaits of tui, kakapo, kokako, mohua, karearea, kea and kaka, among others. Based in London for much of his career, Keulemans never visited New Zealand, and drew mainly from stuffed specimens or museum study skins – although there is a chance he saw live examples of birds such as kiwi held in the city’s zoological gardens. The life-like level of detail is simply astonishing, with the subtle backgrounds serving to keep attention on the main subject – the birds. Samples of Buller’s accompanying ornithological notes have been updated in line with modern taxonomy.

In his 30-page introduction, Geoff Norman, a Wellington tramper, writer, designer and bird enthusiast, ranges confidently across an impressive range of subjects including the Age of Enlightenment, the history of science, conservation, ornithology and nineteenth century art techniques. At its centre is the life of Keulemans. The Dutch-born artist had between the 1873 and 1888 editions earned himself a reputation as ‘the most established bird artist’ of his time – and this book amply demonstrates his extraordinary skill. Geoff explains the process of lithography, then used to produce picture outlines which could be hand-coloured for book production. This labour-intensive process often involved a team of people, working under the direction of the artist. Surprisingly, even a highly regarded artist like Keulemans was poorly paid during the nineteenth century. Even though the artwork formed the most substantial part of both editions, it was Buller who earned the real mana and money from them, not Keulemans. Natural history artists were clearly at the bottom of the scientific hierarchy, and Keulemans complained that in some years he earned as little as a brick-layer.

Stephen Fry, a bird enthusiast who has written about New Zealand’s fauna with zoologist Mark Cawardine, provides an effervescent and typically colourful foreword. Fry first came to New Zealand, he writes, ‘better known as a word-botcher than a bird-watcher’ and calls the book ‘a perfect celebration of the precious and beautiful birds of the precious and beautiful islands of Aotearoa.’

Indeed, this is a thoroughly researched, highly crafted and stunningly produced book which is sure to become a sought-after collector’s item in years to come.