A Bird in the Hand - Art Gallery of Alberta

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The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramBirds in Art History - A Brief SurveyBirds have been a subject of artistic expression almost since thedawn of man. The history of the fine arts began around 40,000BC during the Paleolithic or Old Stone-Age. The oldest knownrock engravings are in Australia, but within the next 30,000 yearsexamples of artistic expression are found on every continent.The oldest cave paintings yet discovered were found in 1994 atChauvet Cave in Southern France. These paintings have beendated at 32,000 years B.C. E. and, among the many figuresportrayed, are representations of owls. The oldest sculptures offigurative art, found in a cave in south western Germany, are aset of 30,000 year old carved ivory figures. Among the creaturesportrayed in these sculptures are birds.Owl FigureChauvet CaveRa BoatEgyptian Wall ImageBirds have figured in the mythologies/religionsof many of the worlds cultures. In mostinstances these representations involveGods/Goddesses who are portrayed ashaving both human and bird characteristics.In ancient Egypt, for example, Ra, the SunGod and King of the Gods, was representedwith the head of a falcon. The God Horus,who symbolized the Pharoh while Thoth, theGod of Wisdom, were also portrayed with birdheads.If portrayed other than in religion, birds are always shown in conjunction with human activity.Either they form an incidental element in the background or the portrayal is of a hunting scene inwhich they are the victims. In other words, for most of human history, birds were rarely the mainor only subject portrayed in a work of art. If they were portrayed, they were intimately linked tohumans in some way.Hunting Scene with Boomerang,Tomb of NakhtXVIII Dynasty, Egypt (1150-1292 BC)AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition ProgramBirds in Art History - A Brief Survey continuedThe Protestant Reformation of the 1500s had a tremendouseffect on art production in Western Europe. Religious andpolitical turmoil in Europe during the 16th century split the LowCountries into two nations with differing social values and artistictastes. In 1568 the northernmost provinces of the Low Countriesbroke away from Spanish control, becoming the modern daynation of the Netherlands. The southern provinces, meanwhile,remained under Spanish control. In this region, now known asBelgium, the Catholic Church and Catholic court continued tobe the most important patrons of the arts and religious subjectscontinued to be a central theme in artistic production. The Dutchnorth, on the other hand, became a country populated mainly byProtestant Calvinists who frowned on religious images. Artiststhus had to look to other subjects for artistic expression and tomeet the needs of their upper class patrons, and so turned tolandscapes, still life, and genre paintings. Through these ‘new’subjects the protestant artists of the north conveyed morals andreligious messages through concealed symbolism. Dutch art,which embraced the style of realism, provided an allegorical viewof nature that provided a means for conveying various messagesto contemporary viewers. Paintings, even those representingeveryday objects and events, often provide reminders about thebrevity of life and the need for moderation and temperance inone’s conduct. These concerns are expressed in Willem vanAeist’s painting Still Life with Dead Game of 1661, and JanWeenix’s painting Falconer’s Bag of 1695. In van Aeist’s workthe dead birds remind the viewer of the brevity of life, while inWeenix’s painting the focus is on the rendering of the landscapeand the details of the still life in which the birds and flowers havebecome the central subjects in the work. The expertise of Dutchartists with every-day reality as seen in landscapes and still lifepaintings elevated these genre in artistic import. Van Aeist’spaintings, with their superb illusions of fur, feathers, and flesh,for example, set a major precedent for later French, British, andAmerican sporting still lifes.Willem van AeistStill Life with DeadJan WeenixFalconer’s Bag, 1695AFA Travelling Exhibition Program, Edmonton, AB Ph: 780.428.3830 Fax: 780.421.0479youraga.ca
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A Bird in the Hand - Art Gallery of Alberta

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