The Dead Bird

Prunella Clough 1919 - 1999

Summary

This is a still life of a dead bird, which has black feathers remaining on some parts of its body, but the white skull, neck and wing bones are also visible. It is lying upside down on a wooden structure (fence), with what looks like a road along a desert-coloured landscape extending behind it. The sky is grey. One of Prunella Clough's first post-war paintings, her image of a decaying bird reflects the waste and devastaion of World War II.