The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Common Egret (Casmerodius albus)

2001

Jayne Hinds Bidaut

(American, b. 1965)
America
tintype
Image: 25.5 x 20.3 cm (10 1/16 x 8 in.); Framed: 40 x 34.9 x 3.2 cm (15 3/4 x 13 3/4 x 1 1/4 in.); Mounted: 26.4 x 21.2 cm (10 3/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
Gift of William S. Lipscomb in memory of his father, James S. Lipscomb 2003.8
Location: Not on view

Description

One of a number of contemporary artists employing 19th-century photographic techniques, Jayne Hinds Bidaut relies on the antique tintype process to create images with creamy tones, raised surfaces, and a distressed appearance. This striking, elegant portrait of a common egret with a twisted and elongated neck is from a body of work recording taxidermized birds in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. Bidaut’s works combine her interest in natural history with her enthusiasm for creating physical objects. Her beguiling portraits are filled with references to collecting and history, intricacy and beauty, decay and preservation. The photograph’s frame, chosen by the artist, evokes the period when her photographic process was developed.
  • Trophies of the Hunt: Capturing Nature as Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 24-November 3, 2004).
    Inventing the Past: Jayne Hinds Bidaut Tintypes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 11-July 17, 2002).
  • {{cite web|title=Common Egret (Casmerodius albus)|url=false|author=Jayne Hinds Bidaut|year=2001|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.8