Untitled (Bald Eagle)

Copied Albert Zahn, Untitled (Bald Eagle), ca. 1924 - 1950, painted wood, 12 1⁄2 × 10 × 17 in. (31.8 × 25.4 × 43.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Orren and Marilyn Bradley and Kohler Foundation, Inc., 2015.58.30

Artwork Details

Title
Untitled (Bald Eagle)
Artist
Date
ca. 1924 - 1950
Location
Dimensions
12 1⁄2 × 10 × 17 in. (31.8 × 25.4 × 43.2 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Orren and Marilyn Bradley and Kohler Foundation, Inc.
Mediums Description
painted wood
Classifications
Keywords
  • Animal — bird — eagle
Object Number
2015.58.30
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2015.58.30

Artwork Description

Albert Zahn was known as “the Birdman of Door County.” After retiring from his dairy farm on the Wisconsin peninsula, he built a small retirement house and embellished it with hundreds of carved and painted cedar birds, angels, and figures dressed in the attire of his Pomeranian homeland. Zahn was regarded as a devout Lutheran, yet he believed the natural world was the most spiritual of places and spent his days in the cedar woods, watching birds and carving. Manifestations of the winged form and the metaphor of flight were prominent at the site he called Bird’s Park, which was pervaded by the theme of spiritual elevation.