Four-in-one-bird (Moving)
1937; 1979-1980
Medium
oil, collage, aluminium, synthetic polymer paint, composition board, plywood, wood, electric motor and transparent synthetic polymer resin
Measurements
75.6 × 74.5 × 27.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by Elizabeth Mudge in memory of Roy Opie, 1981
© Enid Hawkins, daughter of the artist
Gallery location
Gallery 8
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
In Sydney during the 1930s, a small group of progressive artists including Frank Hinder, Grace Crowley and Ralph Balson banded together for mutual support within an environment largely hostile to modern art. The exchange of ideas between the members of this group nurtured an unprecedented level of artistic experimentation and resulted in the first coherent and sustained movement towards abstraction in this country. Hinder’s Four-in-one-bird (Moving) is an extraordinarily avant-garde work: it is the first low-relief collage construction by an Australian artist, the first kinetic work by an Australian artist, and an important early Australian example of abstraction.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Wollstonecraft, Sydney, New South Wales
Inscription
inscribed in pencil l.r.: F C HINDER -37/-79
inscribed (vertically) in pencil on reverse u.c.: NOT FOR SALE (N underlined) N.F.S / (...illeg.) 10gns (in a circle) / F.C. HINDER / 79 MORTON St / WOLLSTONECRAFT
inscribed in fibre-tipped pen on motor platform on reverse l.r.: F.C. HINDER. / MECHINIZED -79-80
Accession Number
A12-1981
Department
Australian Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Subjects (general)
Abstract Art
Subjects (specific)
automation biomorphic abstraction birds (motifs) circles (plane figures) geometric abstraction geometric motifs shape (form attribute)
Movements
Kinetic Art