Morning Glory (White Peacock) 1932

Famous wood block by Lionel Lindsay signed in pencil at lower right.

Morning Glory can be best be described as a refined version of The White Peacock of 1925. It is the same bird, trailing its long white tail feathers downwards as it sits on a trailing branch, but instead of posing in profile, the body faces the front, the head turning to the left, revealing an elegant neck. The more casual pose manages to create in the bird’s form a sinuous curve which crosses with one of the curves of the trailing creeper that gives the print its name. The creeper also curves in a cascade next to the bird’s tail echoing it and making it appear more voluptuous than it really is. The whole print can be seen as an exercise in curved lines and fine tonal patterns backed by the dense black of the uncut block. Morning Glory owes much to the Renaissance tradition of Europe in its complex system of checks and balances: light echoing light, dark balancing dark and the whole composition held together by the mingling of sinuously curving lines. Mendelssohn p.106