‘The Bird in Art Through History’

Cave-people to our

modern societyBy Daryl Albertson (February 2016)

The Cave Wall Painters• Australia Aboriginal peoples - oldest know artworks, generally

painted on cave walls and prepared bark pieces. Natural ochre colours applied with fingers or formed brushes from chewed sticks. Subject matter: Revered stories, totems, ancestors and animals they hunted; (note: interpretations only)

• Mungo Lake –Mungo National Park, 90 km north-west Mildura. 1969-1974 - 3 cremated bodies dated in a range of 40,000 up to 68,000 years;

• First wave of migration may have been prompted by the eruption of Mount Toba (70,000yrs), the crossing water from Timor was later (50,000yrs), a more likely route through the Moluccas to New Guinea to Northern Australia then radiating out across the continent.

(note: unlikely that timing will ever be established with certainty).

Arnhem Land Northern Territory from the Jawoyn site. Genyornis newtoni – Thunderbirds - unknown artist.

2 metre tall, flightless, powerful legs, died out 50,000 years +/– 5,000 years. Possibly the subject due to revered ancestral

stories or animals these early peoples hunted ???

‘Thunderbirds’ from Arnhem Land - NT.

Prehistoric art has also been found caves in Africa, South America and the Caribbean. Earliest European examples in Chauvet Caves

in southern France (32,000 yrs) Birds are generally rare, found among bison, horses & other creatures

Bird-headed man and bird on a stick – Artist unknown from the Lascaux Caves in south-west France (17,000 yrs). Poss.

depicting ceremony ??

Bird-headed man and bird on a stick - France

• Paintings of birds in tombs and on scrolls;

• Birds teemed in the fertile marshlands of the Nile and this civilisations had a strong affinity with birds;

• Artwork generally depicts hunting of birds, using birds for hunting/fishing or domestic birds in every day life;

• Ibis were used similar to cats to rid homes of vermin and many birds painted on walls of tombs for the benefit of the dead.

• Birds strongly tied to customs & religion, Falcon the god Horus, Ibis the god Thoth, painted in tombs.

The Egyptians and Their Birds

Two examples of Egyptian bird art found on the walls in the tombs of the dead.

A. Fishing and Fowling in the Marshes c. 1400 BCPainted on plaster – Tomb chapel of Menna, Valley of the nobles, Thebes, Egypt.Depicting the bountiful birdlife of the Nile River marshlands, hunting by sticking

B. Nebamun Hunting in the Marshes c. 1350 BCPainted on plaster – Tomb chapel of Nebamun, Thebes, Egypt.Depicting hunting with decoy herons, stick throwing and hunting birds with cat in the marshes of the Nile River.

A

B

The Romans Love of Bird Art• Unlike the Egyptians the villas of the Roman civilisation were

adorned with bird art;

• Their homes were painted with birds for the enjoyment of the living, elaborate garden scenes of flying birds;

• But like the Roman gods and customs linked to birds ie, Eagles, Swans peacocks doves etc. ;

C. Zeus and the Eagle c. 575 – 550 BC, Painted Ceramic – Southern Greece.

C

D. Roman Garden c. 1st C AD, Fresco Pompeii. D

The Christian Bird• Generally a symbolic use of the bird included in books, stories, religious

paintings as decoration;

• The bible references birds in a number of books, Adam & Eve, Noahs Ark etc.

• A missal is a book of songs and music needed to celebrate Mass often decorated with birds for obvious reasons;

• The Sherborne Missal (694 pgs) is decorated with forty eight illustrations of wild English birds, including gannets, moorhens, storks, wagtails and woodpeckers.

• Many of this 48 are now extinct from English shores.

A page from the Sherborne Missal, C 1404 on Vellum by Monks of the

Benedictine Abbey.

Earthly Paradise by Jan Brueghel C 1650 - Oil on panel depicting Adam & Eve expelled from

the Garden of Eden.

The Hunter and the Hunted • Employing birds as the hunter, such falconry was seen as

a noble pursuit, Queen Elizabeth 1 hunted in this way;

• But in the 17 century, firearms gave way to these forms, destroying hundreds;

• Painters were quick to up on trophies of large number from the hunt;

• But not all of this style of hunting was considered a noble pursuit and many paintings depict the dying bird.

Hunting Trophies by Claude Monet, 1862, Oil on Canvas.

The Wounded Heron by George Watts 1900, Oil on Canvas.

The Bird Study

• Ornithological study of birds has its origin in ancient Roman times;

• A fresh impetus from the 15th Century when bird specimens came back to Europe by explorers & traders who travelled to new continents;

• Privately owned aviaries in Europe gave bird artists readily accessible studies.

Wing of a Blue Roller by Albrecht Durer , 1500, Watercolour and gouache on vellum with gold

The Dodo by Hans Savery, 1600, Oil on Canvas

Ivory-billed Woodpecker by John Audubon, 1800, Coloured engraving

Red Wattle Birds by Neville Cayley, 1931, Watercolour

Marvellous Spatuletail by John Gould , 1830 , Coloured

lithograph

Californian Parakeet by John Audubon, 1800, Coloured

lithograph

Birds of Paradise by Robin Hill , 1970, Watercolour

Palm Cockatoos by anonymous C 2010, Oil on Canvas.

Watercolour

The Modern Bird• Simplistic forms, more abstract than detailed, maybe

childlike in form and colour could fit the ‘Modern Bird’;

• There is now both a long history of ‘bird in art’ and great knowledge of the species to draw upon to capture in our work;

• I would pose that today’s bird artist is looking for new

and interesting ways depict these intriguing feathered creatures.

Birds for Art Car project by Ken Done, 2010, Oil on car door

The Pigeons, Cannes By Pablo Picasso, 1910, Oil on Canvs

Bird by Salvador Dalio, 1930, Oil, sand,

gravel on board

My favourites & inspiration to make bird art

Untitled (Bird) by Brett Whiteley, oil on canvas 1978

Orange Fiji Fruit Dove by Brett Whiteley, Oil on Canvas 1983

Wild Cries Wild Wings of Wetland and Swamp By John Wolseley, Oil on 6 mtr board outdoor installation Melbourne City Square

Ibis Following Rain Old Dromana by John Wolseley, Watercolour on paper

Tropical Birds in the Landscape by Jan van Kessel 1650, Oil on Panel