Study for Birds

1878

Albert Joseph Moore English, 1841-1893

On View

Modern, Level 2, North Wing

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

As an adherent to the theory of “Art for Art’s Sake,” Albert Moore approached painting as an expression of formal arrangements and color harmonies. He titled his works to suggest a mood or a tonal quality rather than to explain the visual content. The modello (full-scale study) for the painting Birds presents a statuesque woman, classically proportioned and attired in a pale gold chiton (gown) and a diaphanous white himation (rectangular wrap). But she is not a figure summoned out of ancient Mediterranean history. Instead, her gracefully posed and solidly constructed figure facilitates Moore’s fascination with the delicate interplay of light and color in the sheen of fabric draped on a three-dimension form. As for the “birds” of the title: In the finished painting, a small bird has landed at the figure’s feet. Its pale, golden feathers and white tail provides the tonal template for the painting.
From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)

Title Study for Birds

Artwork Date 1878

Artist Albert Joseph Moore

Life Dates 1841-1893

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. English

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil and pencil on two joined canvases

Dimensions Framed: 66 5/16 × 31 3/8 × 3 1/8 inches (168.4 × 79.7 × 7.9 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Modern Art to 1970

Credit Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2004.38

Markings

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Provenance

Thomas Maclean (Haymarket, London, England);
Miss Enid M. Vale (London, England and Wolverhampton, England);
1970, (Fine Arts Society, London, England);
private collection (USA);
2003-2004, (Peter Nahum, Leicester Galleries, London, England);
2004-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Baldry, A. Lys, Albert Moore. London, 1893, p. 103. [as Birds A Study.]

Asleson, R. Albert Moore. London, 2000, pp. 140; pp. 144-145.

The Sacred and Profane in Symbolist Art. Exh. cat., Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto, 1969, cat. 37.

Victorian Dreamers. Exh. cat., Ishibashi Foundation. Tokyo, 1989.

Nahum, Peter. Medieval to Modern. Exh. cat., Leicester Galleries. London, 2004, pp. 40-41, cat. 19 (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA 89, no. 1/4: Notable Acquisitions, 2000–2015 (2015): p. 29 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Albert Joseph Moore, Study for Birds, 1878, oil and pencil on two joined canvases. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 2004.38.