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Walton Ford (American, b. 1960), Heron Study for Vespers, 2022

  • $ 75,000.00


Walton Ford (American, b. 1960)
Heron Study for Vespers, 2022
Watercolor, pen and ink on paper signed ‘W.P’ l.r.
Paper size: 9 x 12 in.
Frame size:  17 x 20 ½ in.

Watercolor study of the head of a heron with an oval pen and ink drawing of the bird hanging upside down hovering just above the water. Ornithologists call this positioning Forward Throwing posture, where the bird grasps a branch while thrusting toward a prey item such as a fish.

While many of Walton Ford’s monumental compositions are based on real events. Vespers is an exception.  Ford explained his interest in this subject:

Vespers is the least literary narrative because I don’t have a specific story. I was reading a book about this natural history fraud guy, Richard Meinertzhagen. He stole a lot of birds from the British Museum and said he discovered them. He did a whole bunch of terrible things. But I was trying to get an idea for a picture and all I know is I got this image in my head of a heron, which is what this is, a Great Blue Heron hanging like a bat, something a heron can’t do. But I wanted to create a completely false behavior as a sort of ornithological fraud, and make it look credible. And I think he really looks like he could do that. But there’s no way…

I have created impossible poses for animals. It’s one of the little devices I like to use. But this one is very simple, kind of Baselitz-style. I thought, it would be fun to paint different birds hanging upside down like this. Audubon created a fake bird, like the Kooloo-kamba. Audubon has an eagle he said he discovered; I don’t think that he ever collected this eagle. So I thought of painting his eagle upside-down. You may as well say they do this if you’re going to make the whole animal up...I was drawing a lot of birds hanging upside-down and the heron really looked good that way. So I painted it. It’s really about frauds and liars, and that seems kind of timely, doesn’t it? (laugh) (Artist Walton Ford Walks with the Animals in a New Exhibition. Vogue, March 10, 2022)

Please feel free to contact us with questions by phone at 215.735.8811,
or by email at loricohen@aradergalleries.com 

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