Animals that Fly
•One of the difficulties in painting or drawing any animal is getting them to stay still. Birds make an even more difficult subject to capture. Can you work out why? Despite this birds continue to stimulate the imagination of artists and are a fascinating subject because of their beautiful plumage and vibrant colours.
There are over 10,000 bird species in all colours of the rainbow. Look at the work of Australian John Gould’s images of birds to see examples of why people have a fascination with birds.
•Ancient cave dwellers drew depictions of various birds on the walls of caves in Bhimabetaka (India) and Spain. Birds representing various stage of life were drawn on Egyptian tomb walls and Horus, one of the most significant deities in ancient Egyptian life, was represented as a human form with a falcon’s head.
•Birds are included in Aboriginal Dreaming stories and can be seen in rock art. Traditional Aboriginal art uses bird foot prints to represent a journey or track. Looking down from high above can be described as being from a ‘birds-eye view’.
•Birds have come to symbolise many things in the art history such as;
a dove as a symbol of peace and purity :: an eagle symbolising courage and generosity :: a peacock to symbolise vanity :: some birds in art can represent a new season or be a messenger
•Naturalist and artist John Audubon spent 14 years drawing and hand colouring over 435 life-size images of birds for his important Birds of America book.
•To Australian artist Brett Whiteley, birds symbolised freedom (the bird in flight) and creation (the nest and egg), in Untitled (Bird), 1973. Look at his many drawings, paintings and sculptures of birds. Whiteley devoted three solo exhibitions with birds as the theme.
•Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi celebrated the form and function of birds in a series of works called Maiastra, Golden Bird and Bird in Space. Each series of works gradually abstracts and simplifies the birds form further and further until it is almost unrecognisable.
Can you recognise any of these amazing flying animals? CLICK on the images below to find out more!
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