Fenwick Lansdowne

James Fenwick Lansdowne OC, OBC (August 8, 1937 – July 26, 2008) was a self-taught Canadian wildlife artist. Lansdowne was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Victoria, British Columbia. His first show was at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1956.

Lansdowne's detailed watercolours of birds are similar in style to the work of John James Audubon - often featuring a specific species against a largely white background - but his subjects tend to display a greater life-like quality and more natural postures than Audubon's.

His work has been presented to members of the British Royal Family by the Government of Canada. In 1976, Lansdowne was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1995, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia. In 1974, he was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Bibliography

* "Birds of the Northern Forest" (1966) - text by John A. Livingston
* "Birds of the Eastern Forest, Volume I" (1968) - text by John A. Livingston
* "Birds of the Eastern Forest, Volume II" (1970) - text by John A. Livingston
* "Birds of the West Coast, Volume I" (1976)
* "Rails of the World" (1977) - text by S. Dillon Ripley
* "Guide to the Behavior of Common Birds" (1980) with Donald Stokes
* "Birds of the West Coast, Volume II" (1982)

External links

* [http://www.sff.bc.ca/art/JFLansdowne.htm Examples of Lansdowne's work]
* [http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=b4dab2df-8ef2-4af8-834b-a4941b526151"An Artist Who Felt For All God's Creation" Times Columnist 28 July 2008]
* [http://www.protocol.gov.bc.ca/protocol/prgs/obc/1995/1995_JLansdowne.htm Order of British Columbia citation]