Born in Seattle in 1916, Harry Curieux Adamson studied wildlife and its habitat for over half a century. While he occasionally painted other birds and mammals, his emphasis was always on waterfowl. Whether it be rippling skeins of snow geese against a blue sky or pink-eared ducks in Australia’s heartland, his fascination with these birds never left him, as attested by the fact that he observed over one hundred and sixteen species of ducks and geese in the wild. Adamson studied under Paul J. Fair, a nationally recognized sculptor and wildlife photographer. A period of book illustration at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology in Berkeley, California also contributed to his early training. After serving our country for more than four years in World War II, Adamson began his pursuit of a full-time career in portraying wildlife in oil. Gradually his work found wider acceptance, and in 1952, a pintail painting was purchased by the then President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman Valdez. Striving to recreate scenes he observed in his many years of study, most of his marshscapes were set in the Sacramento Valley of California, a traditional wintering ground for many species of waterfowl. Accompanied by his charming and helpful wife, Betty, he traveled to Antarctica, Guyana, New Guinea, and Brazil. Part of the appeal of Adamson's paintings is that “he painted to the hunters dream.” Although Adamson was never a hunter himself, many of his outdoor paintings were done from within a duck blind. His paintings evoke memories in the outdoor enthusiast, whether they be of an early morning close up view of a flock of mallards or of a stunning landscape experienced. A lover of nature and the outdoors, Adamson donated paintings and prints close to three million dollars in value to raise money for conservation causes over his lifetime. In 1979 Adamson was selected as the Ducks Unlimited Artist of the Year. His work was shown at the first major bird art exhibit in 1980 at the National Collection of Fine Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. His paintings have been shown in ten of the annual Bird Art Exhibitions of the prestigious Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. In 1985 in Kansas City, Adamson was the guest artist at the National Wildlife Art Show.