Pheasants Breaking Out Of Cover 1908

Archibald Thorburn made this painting of pheasants, likely with oils, sometime around 1900. I can just imagine him carefully observing the pheasants, studying their colors and flight patterns. I’m so interested in the surface of paintings and how an artist builds up a picture. Look at the layering in the bird’s feathers! What colors did Thorburn put down first? And did he let them dry before adding the next? The composition is also beautiful, with the birds arranged as if bursting out of the trees. There’s a real sense of motion, of life taking flight. You can almost hear the flapping of their wings. What do you think this painting says about our relationship to the natural world, to wild creatures like these? Painters have been depicting animals for centuries. They are constantly in dialogue with one another across time, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways. Painting is a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity, allowing for endless interpretations of meaning.