group of buff-colored birds with black, white, orange and yellow feathers on the top of their wings and tails, and orange coloring on their heads; birds perched on barbed wire, eating purple berries from a branch in URC; explosions at left and orange and yellow trails from flying bullets around and in front of birds; "Pestvogel" in URC; "Bombycilla garruluz - Bohemian Waxwings - 12-10-1917" at bottom

%C2%A9 Walton Ford

Pestvogel, 2016

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Since the 16th-centuy, the migratory Eurasian songbird known as the Bohemian Waxwing has been erroneously branded a harbinger of death and disease for its habit of appearing suddenly in large numbers to feed on ripened fruit. This sinister association is revealed in the waxwing’s common names, which include “Pestvogel” a Dutch word meaning “plague bird” and “Unglückvogel” a German word meaning “disaster bird.” Emulating the illustration style of famed American naturalist John James Audubon, Walton Ford’s Pestvogel mocks this age-old superstition by presenting a group of waxwings perched on a coil of barbed wire, eagerly gorging on ripened blackberries, oblivious to the active battlefield nearby. Ford’s dramatic scene is an oblique reference to the widely reported waxwing invasion in Great Britain during the winter of 1913-14, an event seen by some as foreshadowing the onset of World War I the following summer.

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Details
Title
Pestvogel
Artist Life
born 1960
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2018.38.1
Provenance
Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, N.H. (printer); sold to MIA, 2018
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

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group of buff-colored birds with black, white, orange and yellow feathers on the top of their wings and tails, and orange coloring on their heads; birds perched on barbed wire, eating purple berries from a branch in URC; explosions at left and orange and yellow trails from flying bullets around and in front of birds; "Pestvogel" in URC; "Bombycilla garruluz - Bohemian Waxwings - 12-10-1917" at bottom

© Walton Ford

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