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Image Not Available for Oiseau Des Forets
Oiseau Des Forets
Image Not Available for Oiseau Des Forets

Oiseau Des Forets

Artist (Argenteuil, France, 1882 - 1963)
Date1958
Mediumcolour lithograph on paper
ClassificationsPrints
DimensionsOverall: Height: 54 cm, Width: 72 cm
Frame: Height: 79.2 cm, Width: 99.5 cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1981 with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions.
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG011710
Keywords
Other Titles
  • Bird of the Forests - Bird XVII
About MeThis late work represents one of Braque's favourite motifs, a bird in flight. With its highly schematic and simplified forms, the bird, inspired by the decorative motifs of birds in archaic Greek and Etruscan ceramics, seems to detach itself from the dark background and indeed Braque often worked with collage in order to establish his composition. Yet it is in no way a stark, two-dimensional image. Printed in seven subtly toned colours, its delicacy and simplicity help to create a delightful effect of bird-like movement.

Braque saw the bird form as a liberating force in his art, stating in 1956, "I used guitars, tables, carafes, sand and wallpaper to express what I had to say. Now it is the bird that helps me to explain myself. I started on the ground and now I am slowly moving up toward the sky."

Clearly Braque was particularly pleased with this lithograph, for he chose to use it as a poster for one of the last exhibitions of his graphic work to be held during his lifetime, at the Galérie Nicolas Rauch in Geneva in September 1958.