Peter Vos333 Oiseaux

Birds have always been attractive to people, who have tried to reproduce their appearance. The Dutch artist Peter Vos (1935-2010) was fascinated by birds and kept bird diaries in which he noted the birds he came across on his way and reproduced them in pen, ink and watercolour. However, 333 Birds is anything but a sketchbook; it was a project, a self-commission: to fill a blank book with 333 birds drawn as well as possible. Vos worked on it for eighteen months – from June 1980 to December 1981. First he went to the zoo to make life studies, which he would then use a few days later in the pages of the book. With its clever layout and Latin names, Vos is reminiscent of 19th century field guides and illustrated books. However, unlike the latter, he does not try to draw the species, but the individual. Disordered feathers are not fixed, an incongruous posture is not corrected and a blind eye is noted like the rest. Peter Vos’ drawings are the stories of his encounters with a particular bird. We should look at 333 birds as a declaration of love to his winged friends, which he presents to us in a long parade in all their splendour and specificities.