Bronze
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/dame-elisabeth-frink-1124" aria-label="More by Dame Elisabeth Frink" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Dame Elisabeth Frink</a>
Bird
Purchased 1953
aggression
animals: birds
bird - non-specific
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
militarism
social comment
society
<p>This strong, alert bird is one of Elizabeth Frink’s earliest sculptures. She continued to explore the bird theme over the next two decades. ‘In their emphasis on beak, claws and wings… they were really vehicles for strong feelings of panic, tension, aggression and predatoriness,’ she said. But she resisted symbolic readings of these works. She cautioned: ‘They certainly were not surrogates for human beings or “states of being”.’</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2023</em></p>
sculpture bronze
19 February 2013 – 30 April 2013
2013-04-30
19 February 2013 – 30 April 2013
2013-04-30
2013-02-19
The Lightbox (Woking, UK)
http://www.thelightbox.org/
2013-02-19
Elisabeth Frink Retrospective
Loan-out
14 October 2017 – 31 January 2021
2021-01-31
14 October 2017 – 31 January 2021
2021-01-31
2017-10-14
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
2017-10-14
Modern Art and St Ives
Collection based display
30 January 2019 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
30 January 2019 – 27 May 2019
2019-05-27
2019-01-30
Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle (Berlin, Germany)
2019-01-30
Objects of Wonder
Tate partnerships & programmes
19 December 2022
6 December 2021
2021-12-06
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2022-12-19
Gallery 33
Collection based display
Bird
object: 210 × 250 × 362 mm
Purchased 1953
<div class="text">
<p>This strong, alert bird is one of Elizabeth Frink’s earliest sculptures. She continued to explore the bird theme over the next two decades. ‘In their emphasis on beak, claws and wings… they were really vehicles for strong feelings of panic, tension, aggression and predatoriness,’ she said. But she resisted symbolic readings of these works. She cautioned: ‘They certainly were not surrogates for human beings or “states of being”.’</p>
</div>

Display caption
2023-09-26T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N06140</b> BIRD 1952
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Bronze, 8×9 1/2×14 1/2 (20×24×36).
<br/>Purchased from the Beaux Arts Gallery (Knapping Fund) 1953.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> <i>Three Sculptors</i>, Beaux Arts Gallery, November 1952 (4).</p>
<p>Three casts were made; one was bought by a private collector, the second by the Arts Council, and this is the third.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
aggression animals: birds bird - non-specific emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas militarism social comment society