Eduardo Paolozzi 1924-2005
Paris Bird, 1948
bronze
13½ by 14 by 7½ inches
edition no.2/6, stamped with artist's name

Provenance
Private Collection, USA

Exhibited
London, Hanover Gallery, Kenneth King, Eduardo Paolozzi, William Turnbull, 21 February - 18 March 1950, cat no.1, another cast, entitled Bird

New York, Betty Parsons Gallery, Paolozzi, 23 April - 12 May 1962, cat no.1, another cast

Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Eduardo Paolozzi, 5 February - 6 April 1975, cat no.3, another cast

Literature
Michael Middleton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Methuen Art in Progress Series, London, 1963,
illus b/w p4

Frank Whitford, Eduardo Paolozzi, Tate Gallery, London, 1971, illus b/w fig.8 p11, p10

Fiona Pearson, Eduardo Paolozzi, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1999,
cat no.15, illus colour p18, p20

Robin Spencer (ed.), Eduardo Paolozzi: Writings and Interviews, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000, footnote p64



Paolozzi''s fascination with junk and other discarded materials is evident in this early sculpture. Apart from the base, all the sections were cast from objects he found lying around his studio in Paris, where the artist was living. They include what appear to be machine parts and bits of wood, combined to suggest a metallic bird in flight.

Another cast of Paris Bird is in the Tate Collection.