Title

Lyre bird feeding. [by Murray Griffin].

Author

Bunbury, Alisa.

Source

[Not applicable]

Publication date

1998

Type

About the work

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Lyre bird feeding.

Lyre bird feeding is one of Griffin’s most haunting bird prints. The opulent plumage of the bird has been highlighted by the use of the long horizontal block, rather than the formulaic depiction of the bird in courtship pose with outspread tail. The balance, almost equally divided, between dark bird on light background and light tail on dark background, and the diffuse light emanating from behind emphasise the secretive nature of the bird. Griffin experimented with different effects to produce the soft rainforest foliage, using a combination of hatching and gouging of the blocks, as well as uneven inking of the block, to create a leafy effect, against which the linear details of the thin tail feathers are highlighted. Gouging was used in a similar manner in Rabbit trapper’s daughter [cat.49l; similar plumage appeared in Bird of paradise [cat.118].

This is one of only a few bird prints in which a real attempt has been made to depict the nature of the bird and its habitat.

© Alisa Bunbury, 1998.