Lot 166
ROBERT BATEMAN
Literature:
Ramsay Derry, The Art of Robert Bateman, Toronto, 2006, pages 98-99, reproduced in colour.
Exhibited:
Images of The Wild/Reflets de la Nature, The National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa, September 8-November 29, 1981.
Portraits of Nature: Paintings by Robert Bateman, The National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1987
Note:
Bateman describes the subject of this work, noting, "I had often seen goshawks in the field, but I was able to get an understanding of the modulations of their feathers by looking frame by frame at a film a friend of mine had made. In the film, the goshawk ruffled up all its feathers, gave them a kind of shiver, and then let them slowly descend. This was so exciting visually to me that it became the originating idea of the picture. Later, I saw a freshly killed grouse whose feathers would open and close showing something of the same modulation. Ruffed grouse are an important prey for goshawks and so this completed the subject of the picture".