Nightjar (Nachtzwaluw (Geitenmelker))

Charles Donker is one of the foremost contemporary Dutch printmakers. He was a member of a group called De Luis (The Louse), a group of graphic artists who in the 60s made works in a surrealist or heightened realist idiom. He has long been fascinated by the natural world. He is well-known for his muted etchings that depict nature and everyday objects. His direct and honest rendering of detail lends a surreal note to many of his works. Birds, both live and dead, are a subject to which Donker often returns in his work. He rendered here a nightjar in a more scientific way that in the other print of showing a nightjar sitting among leaves and twigs. While he drew scattered leaves and a pine cone around the bird, it does not seem to sit on the ground. He inscribed in the bottom right corner the different names for the bird in Latin and Dutch.