Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874 - 1927) was a very famous, and prolific, American ornithologist, illustrator and artist. He was the artist for many American Museum expeditions, his last one being the 1926-27 Field Museum of Natural History's Abyssinian Expedition, which was led by Wilfred Hudson Osgood. He produced some of his best work during this trip but, unfortunately, died in a railway crossing accident shortly after his return to America.
In 1930 the Field Museum, Chicago, published the Album of Abyssinian Birds and Mammals from Paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, a portfolio containing 32 loose plates of illustrations. In 1936 Doubleday, Doran & Company, New York, published Artist and Naturalist in Ethiopia by Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Wilfred Hudson Osgood.
Earlier this year Paul A. Johnsgard, of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, published The Abyssinian Art of Louis Agassiz Fuertes in the Field Museum. The book "documents the paintings and drawings executed by Louis Agassiz Fuertes during the Field Museum of Natural History's seven-month expedition to Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in 1926 - 27. During that time Fuertes completed 70 field watercolors that illustrate 55 species of birds and four species of mammals. He also executed 34 pencil drawings, which illustrate 13 species of mammals and 11 species of birds, plus numerous miscellaneous sketches and small watercolors. This book identifies and describes the biology of all 69 species of birds and mammals illustrated by Fuertes and includes 32 color reproductions of Fuertes's watercolors that were published as a limited-edition album in 1930 by the Field Museum. The 60,000-word text provides brief summaries of all these species' ecology, behavior, and reproductive biology as well as information about their current populations and conservation status. A review of Fuertes's life, his influence on modern bird and wildlife art, and his participation in and artistic contributions to the Field Museum's Abyssinian Expedition is also included, as well as more than 250 bibliographic citations."
The book, published in paperback by Zea Books via Lulu, is issued under a Digital Commons Licence and so is free for anyone to download from the Zea E-book webpage (12.4 MB).
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If you've read this far then you should also be interested in Issue 14 of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science Reports, published March, 2019, which has the title The Fortunate Life of a Museum Naturalist: Alfred M. Bailey. Volume 3 – 1922–1927.
"This is the third of eight volumes of the illustrated autobiography of Alfred M. Bailey (1894-1978), ornithologist and long-term director of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. It covers his expeditions from 1922 to 1927 (The Bahamas, Colorado, Utah, Bonaventure Island, Louisiana, and Abyssinia, including a visit to Ras Tafari, the future emperor Haile Selassie)."
Over two thirds of the volume, illustrated with many of his magnificent black & white photographs, is devoted to his candid account of the Field Museum of Natural History's Abyssinian Expedition. It is a very interesting description of the expedition, with many mentions, and several photographs, of Fuertes. The autobiography was hand written in the 1970s and is only now being transcribed and published.
Again the report, published in paperback by the DMNS via Lulu, is issued under a Digital Commons Licence and is free for anyone to download from the DMNS Reports webpage (8.5 MB).
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