Sea Bird Saga VIII 1966

Wallace Bradstreet Putnam made this print, Sea Bird Saga VIII, from what looks like charcoal, or maybe lithographic crayon. The marks are soft, like he’s coaxing the birds out of the paper. I love how the vertical lines create a kind of cage or a forest of reeds that the birds are both inside and outside of. There’s no colour, just tone, and it’s kind of somber, but also playful in how the birds are sort of awkwardly placed. Look at the bird on the lower left, how its body is just a big, almost cartoonish shape, and its legs are these tiny little sticks. It reminds me of some of the things Guston was doing later in his life, just simplifying forms down to their essence. You can feel Putnam enjoying the process of making the marks, almost like he’s dancing with the charcoal. It’s a reminder that art isn’t just about the finished product, it’s about the doing. And it’s not always pretty, and that’s ok too.