John Gerrard Keulemans

Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (J. G. Keulemans) (June 8, 1842, Rotterdam - March 29, 1912, Ilford, Essex (now part of London)) was a Dutch bird illustrator.

Biography and Work

Keulemans worked in London from 1868. He regularly provided illustrations for "The Ibis" and "The Proceedings of the Zoological Society". He illustrated many important bird books, including Buller's "A History of the Birds of New Zealand" (1873), William Vincent Legge's "History of the Birds of Ceylon" (1880), Daniel Giraud Elliot's "Monograph of the Bucerotidae" (hornbills) (1887-1892), Richard Bowdler Sharpe's "Monograph of the Alcedinidae (kingfishers)" (1868-1871), Henry Seebohm's "Monograph of the Turdidae (thrushes)" (1902), Osbert Salvin's "Biologia Centrali-Americana" (1879-1904), and Henry Eeles Dresser's "History of the Birds of Europe" (1871-1896).

One of his last great achievements was his contribution of over one hundred plates for Frederick Du Cane Godman's "Monograph of the Petrels" (1907-1910). He also spent some time collecting birds in Cape Verde and West Africa.

He was the father of nine children and was married twice. Keulemans also wrote topics on spirituality, and claimed he had a premonition at the moment of death of one of his sons.

He is credited with describing a warbler, "Calamodyta (Acrocephalus) brevipennis" ("Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk." 3, 1866; ex Dohrn.). This is a drab bird about 14--16 cm., light brown above and on its flanks, and buff below. He did not publish an illustration of it, but his plate for "Acrocephalus brunnescens" in George Henderson's "Lahore to Yarkand" is similar.His notes and findings on the island of Principe, along with those of his colleague Dr. H. Dohrn, would eventually become the basis for a later description of a rare ibis, "Lampribis rothschildi" Bannerman.

The only significant biography of him is by Jan Coldewey and Tony Keulemans, "Feathers to Brush", a book that includes a bibliography of the artist's publications, but which did not make reference to his single illustration in "The Journal of the Linnean Society". Also of note is a contemporary obituary of Keulemans which was recorded in the journal "British Birds" (1912).

His work is characterised by its consistency, showing little change over the course of his career, and focused to an extraordinary degree on the rendering of fine detail. These generalisations have also proven to be the basis for unjustified criticism of his work (Lambourne, "The Art of Bird Illustration"). The nature of scientific illustration places a premium on consistency. Aside from this, a number of critics have rightly placed Keulemans above his contemporaries (Errol Fuller, "Extinct Birds" rev. ed.); his ability to create accurate and vivid representations of birds gave him prominence in his field.

In addition, Keulemans was prodigious in his output - he was commissioned to paint pictures of birds extensively throughout his career, and his prints were published continuously from 1868 to 1911. There are some which appeared after his death, as late as 1928 (Mathews, "Birds of Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands"); he had rendered the images on stone well before publication of these works. A calculation of his total output gives about 4,000-5,000 published illustrations. The vast majority of these were vignettes published within octavo-size books and publications, and a great number of his works also appeared in quarto (Dresser/"Europe") and in folio (Seebohm/"Turdidae" and DuCane Godman/"Petrels"). While the subject of his illustrations was almost entirely avian, he was also commissioned to create portraits of mammals.

Most of the illustrations by Keulemans were produced through traditional lithography, allowing for a finished product that depicts a vivid, life-like figure through depth and tone. Printing was carried out by the two firms of Mintern and Hanhart, and early in his career, some were printed by P. M. W. Trap. Often, the published lithographs were not coloured, and perhaps some ("Journal of the Linnean Society", 1878) were not intended to be coloured. The technique of lithography made it necessary for the print to be coloured by hand. This was done by semi-skilled artisans working in an assembly line, who applied aniline dyes in a manner that was similar to stenciling. While Keulemans' talents as a draughtsman were hardly disputed by his contemporaries, often the finished, coloured plates were the subject of criticism (Sharpe/"Alcedinidae"). If the depicted colours did not match those of the birds, the value of the finished product was diminished.

Keulemans has painted remarkable pictures of extinct birds, like the Choiseul Crested Pigeon, Kangaroo Island Emu, Huia, Stephens Island Wren, Hawaii Oo, Hawaii Mamo, Oahu Oo, Guadalupe Petrel, and the Laughing Owl. All these paintings can be seen in the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

ee also

*List of wildlife artists

External links

* [http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/nhrarebooks/rothschild/ The Avifauna of Laysan and neighbouring islands]
* [http://www.classicnatureprints.com/pr.Keulemans%20Birds/Keulemans.birds.index1.html Classic Nature Prints]
* [http://mmslouis.googlepages.com John Gerrard Keulemans: Illustrations]