Eagle 1935 - 1942

This striking eagle was painted by Elisabeth Fulda, who lived from 1855 to 1995. I can almost feel Fulda’s hand moving across the paper, building up the eagle’s form with layers of blue wash. There's a real sense of care in the way she’s delineated each feather, but there's an expressive handling of the material. I wonder, did she make this from observation? Or was she working from memory? Did she love painting birds? You can sense that she’s really looked at how feathers overlap, how light catches on their surfaces. The whole thing shimmers with a kind of quiet energy. It reminds me of some of the early 20th century painters, who were equally fascinated by the natural world and the possibilities of paint. In it I see traces of Dürer's famous hare, or Audubon's birds, but something about this work feels distinctly female and new. Artists are always having a conversation with each other across time, aren’t they?