Elizabeth Butterworth
WINGS AND FEATHERS A collection of new paintings
9 December 2018 - 4 January 2019
20 Cork Street, London W1S 3HL +44 (020) 7734 1732 redfern-gallery.com
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The majority of my working life has been spent painting birds. What has interested me in these endeavours is the variation between different types of birds whether they be a finch, conure or macaw - in particular, what characteristics are specific to each species and how to demonstrate this visually. In this exhibition the work is less concerned with this form of illustration and instead presents the feathers in a more contemporary style, ordered and carefully placed to evoke a quiet calm from their spacing and balance. Elizabeth Butterworth
Two Yellow Feathers and Pencil Drawing, 2016 Gouache and pencil on paper 30 cm x 30.5 cm
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Night Watch, 2009-16 Charcoal, contĂŠ, ink and gouache on paper 183 cm x 100 cm
Black Wing, 2012-14 ContĂŠ crayon, ink and gouache on paper 180 x 102 cm
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One Red Feather and Five Pencil Feathers, 2017 Gouache and pencil on paper 67.5 cm x 46 cm
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One Red Feather, 2018 Gouache and pencil on paper 71 cm x 54.5 cm
Blue and Yellow Feathers, 2018 Gouache on paper 146 x 89 cm
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Four Red Feathers, 2017 Gouache on paper 58 cm x 93 cm
Buzzard’s Wing, 2010-13 Gouache on paper 71 x 51 cm
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Female Gang-Gang, 2018 Gouache on paper 37 x 17 cm
Four Blue Feathers, 2018 Gouache on paper 95 cm x 57.5 cm
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Yellow and Blue Feathers, 2017 Gouache on paper 72 x 62 cm
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One Grey Feather and Five Pencil Feathers, 2014 Gouache and pencil on paper 44.5 cm x 58 cm
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Five Grey Feathers (Heron), 2015 Gouache on paper 62 x 91 cm
Six Red Feathers Underside, 2014 Gouache on paper 53 x 70 cm
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Six Yellow Feathers, 2016 Gouache on paper 56 x 80 cm
One Grey Fe Gouache and p
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eather, 2014 pencil on paper
Sixteen Scarlet Macaw Gouache 83 cm x
w Tail Feathers, 2013 on paper 137 cm
Yellow Wing, 2015 Gouache on paper 87 x 109 cm
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Six Red Feathers, 2015 Gouache on paper 69.5 x 47 cm
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Grey Wing, 2009 ContĂŠ, pencil, ink and gouache on paper 130 x 220 cm
Solo Exhibitions 1975 Angela Flowers Gallery, London 1976 Park Square Gallery, Leeds 1978 Fischer Fine Art, London 1979 Ladd Lane Gallery, Dublin 1981 Fischer Fine Art, London 1983 Artis Group, New York 1985 Mezzanine Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1990 Adelaide Arts Festival 1993 Graham Modern, New York 1993 John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco 1994 Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia 1995 Sotheby’s, London 1996 Graham Gallery, New York 1997 The Redfern Gallery, London 2001 The Natural History Museum, London: Amazons, Macaws and Cockatoos 2001 The Redfern Gallery, London. An exhibition of watercolours and prints 2009 The Redfern Gallery, London. Recent Paintings and Drawings Selected Group Exhibitions 1973 British Drawing 1952-1972, Angela Flowers Gallery, London 1973 British Art Now, Nova-London Fine Art Ltd, Copenhagen 1975 London Group, Camden Arts Centre, London 1975 Printmaking show, Tokyo 1976 Printmakers Workshop, Curzon Gallery, London 1976-83 English Realists-The figurative Approach, Fischer Fine Art, London 1978 The Animal in Art, Royal College of Art, London 1979 De Beers Collection, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 1981 A Penthouse Aviary, Museum of Modern Art, New York 1981 Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, New York 1981 8 British Realists, Louis K Meisel, New York 1984 An International Survey of Recent Painting And Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York 1986 Royal College of Art Conservation Department. Natural History Museum, London 1988 Drawn From Nature, Kyburg Ltd, London 1990 The Rainforest Art Exhibition. Natural History Museum, London 1992 Recent Acquisitions, Contemporary Art Society. Camden Arts Centre, London 1992 Project Venezuela: Art and the Environment. Fundacion Museo de Ciencias, Caracas 1992 Erie Art Museum, Pennsylvania 1998 London Art Fair, The Redfern Gallery, London 2001 Florida Art Fair, The Redfern Gallery, London 2005 Extinct Species, Doha, Qatar 2007 From Durer to Elizabeth Butterworth, Barber Institute, Birmingham 2008 Master Printer, Hugh Stoneman. Tate St Ives 2012 Government Art Collection. Whitechapel Gallery, London 2013 Jerwood Drawing Prize, travelling exhibition 2013 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
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Curriculum Vitae Elizabeth Butterworth was born in Rochdale, Lancashire in 1949. She now lives in Sussex. She is an ornithological artist whose rendering of Macaws was described in 1993 by the art historian and critic Ian Dunlop as “without rival this century”. Between 1966 and 1974 she studied at Rochdale School of Art, Maidstone School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London. Elizabeth Butterworth’s first exhibition at the Redfern was in 1997 - showing again in 2001 and 2009. Also in 2001 she showed Amazons, Macaws and Cockatoos at the Natural History Museum, London. She has had five solo shows in the USA including one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1985 and has also shown her work in Ireland and Australia. Her work is in over twenty-five institutions - museums, libraries contemporary art collections, public art galleries and university collections - in England, USA, Australia, Germany, Canada, Venezuela and South Africa.