John J. Audubon Hummingbird Tea Towel

John James Audubon’s (1785-1851) watercolors and his double elephant folio The Birds of America (1827–38) are recognized as major accomplishments in American art. Both a naturalist and artist, Audubon painted directly from his observations in the wild. “I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could,” he once said. The New-York Historical Society’s Audubon collection is the largest single repository of Auduboniana in the world.

Inspired by Audubon’s engraving of Anna’s Hummingbirds, our design captures the playful nature and ceaseless energy of these diminutive birds.

John James Audubon
Anna’s Hummingbird
Havell plate no. 425
1838
New-York Historical Society