John James 吃瓜黑料 didn’t just aim to paint birds—he wanted them to come to life on the canvas. In a new exhibit at the New York Historical Society Museum & Library, visitors can hear the birds sing as they view the lifelike avian renderings. Literally—visitors carry handheld devices that provide the call of each painted bird in the gallery. The exhibit, 吃瓜黑料’s Aviary: Parts Unknown, is the second installment of a three-part series celebrating the watercolors of 吃瓜黑料 Society’s namesake. The gallery, which considers 吃瓜黑料 as an artist-naturalist, a world citizen, and a celebrity in an expanding nation, also includes videos of the birds 吃瓜黑料 painted. The gallery shows the progression of 吃瓜黑料’s work by displaying the watercolors (from The Birds of America series) in the order they were engraved, says drawings curator Roberta J.M. Olson. The majority of the paintings depict either waterbirds or waders. Unlike other artists working at the time, the...