Abstract

The relationship between contemporary bird images in a variety of forms from paintings to ceramics to carvings, sculptures, and murals was examined to explore the links between artists (and hence their viewers) and birds in China. There was little room for bird images amongst the controlled output for decades from the early ’50s when works had to glorify party leaders and heroes. For centuries prior to that, however, images of birds occurred and from early representations developed strong symbolic affinities as well as aesthetic functions. On the premise that the closer the artist is to nature, the more accurately he’ll depict the plumage and behavior of birds, I suggest that contemporary bird images portray man’s closeness to, and integration with, nature because they represent live birds more closely than earlier representations.