MYRTLE BEACH.- The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum presents the exhibit John James Audubon: American Artist and Naturalist through August 17. In marked contrast to the staid, scholarly image his name invokes, naturalist John James Audubon's life and career had more in common with a roller-coaster ride than an afternoon of bird watching.

Born the illegitimate son of a French sea captain and a West Indies chambermaid, Audubon reinvented himself as aristocrat and world-renowned naturalist. From a life so precarious that at one time he was jailed for bankruptcy, Audubon would become a sought-after author and lecturer who hobnobbed with heads of state and wealthy philanthropists.

Yet after his death, his widow was left so destitute she was forced to sell such priceless items as Audubon's own personal copy of his four-volume work, Birds of America, and even the original copper printing plates for the books.

Audubon's work and his colorful history are the subjects of an exhibit titled John James Audubon: American Artist and Naturalist, and for the true Audubonophile, the Museum gift shop will have a large selection of Audubon- and nature-themed items available for purchase during the exhibit's run.

Compiled from the archives and collection of the John James Audubon Museum in Henderson, Kentucky, the exhibit includes 78 of Audubon's prints of birds and mammals plus 10 of the artist's oil and watercolor paintings, which range in subject from an American bison to frontiersman Daniel Boone.

Also included are a number of historical artifacts, including letters, portraits and plaster busts of the artist and members of his family; Audubon's gold-and-carnelian seal ring with wax impression; and a commemorative sterling silver goblet given by Audubon in affluent times to the British publisher of Birds of America .

Audubon's now-familiar bird prints would become the model for such twentieth century bird artists as Roger Tory Peterson and David Sibley. They were a striking departure from the work of Audubon's contemporaries, in that his birds were depicted in lifelike poses set in their natural habitats. Audubon achieved these poses by first shooting the birds – often 100 or more a day – then posing them with wire and other materials in the lifelike poses which he would later sketch.

Modern-day conservationists would perhaps be shocked to read an account by Audubon biographer Duff Hart-Davis in his work, Audubon's Elephant: America's Greatest Naturalist and the Making of The Birds of America. "The rarer the bird," Hart-Davis noted, "the more eagerly he pursued it, never apparently worrying that by killing it he might hasten the extinction of its kind."

Ironically, a number of the birds Audubon captured – literally as well as in print – did become extinct or endangered, among them the Carolina Parakeet, the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker and the Passenger Pigeon. (Prints of the latter two are included in this exhibit.)

Such exploits aside, Audubon took pains to learn about the behaviors of the birds he depicted. The artist is credited with the first known bird-banding experiments in America, tying strings around the legs of Eastern Phoebes to determine that the birds returned yearly to the same nesting sites.

Despite numerous obstacles in gaining recognition for his work, Audubon ultimately achieved both popular and professional acclaim. He was elected to London's Royal Society, gave lectures and demonstrations to such luminaries of the day as Charles Darwin and Robert Knox, and counted Britain's King George IV among his fans.

Although Audubon achieved much of his notoriety while traveling in Europe, he had strong connections with the Carolinas. The artist first visited South Carolina in 1831. Among the friends he made in Charleston was John Bachman, a Lutheran minister and enthusiastic naturalist who assisted Audubon in obtaining specimens.

Bachman's sister-in-law Maria Martin, a gifted artist, assisted Audubon with the botanical background to a number of his paintings, and two of Audubon's sons married Bachman daughters. Audubon would later collaborate with Bachman on a series of plates illustrating North American quadrupeds, which was first published in folio in three volumes.

Sadly, Audubon's later years were plagued by ill health and a near-complete loss of sight, which brought his artistic career to an end. Despite the artist's critical success, following his death his widow was left in such reduced straits that she was forced to sell Audubon's original watercolor paintings, his personal copy of the our-volume Birds of America, and as noted above, the copper printing plates for his great work – to the Phelps Dodge Copper company, for their value as scrap metal.