The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of August 12, 2026

A horizontally oriented lithograph in black ink across peach-colored paper depicts an abstract arrangement of sharp, jagged lines. Interlocking shapes form a humanoid figure on the left standing on spindly limbs with circular feet. To the right, a bird-like creature with a pointed beak features a wing stippled with dense dots. Patterns of stripes and parallel lines texture various sections. Handwritten text "Strange Bird" and "Will Barnet" marks the bottom margin.

Strange Birds

1947

Will Barnet

(American, 1911–2012)
published by

Laurels Gallery

America
lithograph
Sheet: 32 x 42.2 cm (12 5/8 x 16 5/8 in.); Image: 25.1 x 33.5 cm (9 7/8 x 13 3/16 in.)
Alma and Robert D. Milne Fund 1998.183.f
© Will Barnet Trust/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY Alexandre Gallery, New York, NY
Catalogue raisonné: Cole 93
Location: Not on view

Description

Chris Ritter, director of the Laurel Gallery, New York, planned that Laurels would be a periodical with literature, prints, original calligraphy, handset type, and handmade papers by Douglass Howell. The first issue, which appeared in May 1947, included prints by Joan Miró, Anne Ryan, Stanley William Hayter, Reginald Marsh, George Constant, and Will Barnet. Only four issues were published.
  • {{cite web|title=Strange Birds|url=false|author=Will Barnet, Laurels Gallery|year=1947|access-date=12 August 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1998.183.f