Presentation made to the New England Art Society / Armidale Art Gallery on "The Bird in Art Through History. Cave-people to our modern society" by Daryl Albertson on 20th February 2016

1. ‘The Bird in Art
Through History’
Cave-people
to our
modern society
By Daryl Albertson (February 2016)

2. 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).

3. 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.

4. 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

5. • 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

6. 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 BC
Painted 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 BC
Painted 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

7. 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. ;

8. C. Zeus and the Eagle c. 575 – 550 BC,
Painted Ceramic – Southern Greece.
C
D. Roman Garden c. 1st C AD, Fresco
Pompeii. D

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Hunting Trophies by Claude Monet,
1862, Oil on Canvas.
The Wounded Heron by George Watts
1900, Oil on Canvas.

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. 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

18. 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

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

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

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