Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
Elizabeth Butterworth British
Printer The Print Centre, Ltd. British
Publisher Mezzanine Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Not on view
Butterworth is a contemporary British artist who works in the ornithological tradition of John Gould (1804-1881) and Edward Lear (1812-1888). She has focused on parrots and cockatoos-studying them in captivity and in the wild, examining their skins in museums, and keeping them as pets. This print depicts a sulpher-crested cockatoo. Etching and aquatint were used to achieve the delicate tonal gradations, and the color was added by hand. An emphasis on flat pattern gives the image a slightly surreal quality.