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A review by roam_
How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird by Mordicai Gerstein, Jacques Prévert
4.0
I first read the poem that shares the title of this children's book in Alice Oswald's The Thunder Mutters and was so 'enchanted' that I wanted to read more. Oswald's collection is dedicated to the rake - an interface between a human and nature. Prevert's poem is about a wonderful young artist who is listening to the sage advice of a narrator, teaching him to be patient and think about what the bird wants, respond to what the bird does, be prepared for what the bird may do given what we know about bird behavior in general. What does it take for us to see and hear and know a bird well enough to paint a portrait?
Prevert - a popular poet, deemed a surrealist during his time - twines different dimensions together throughout the poem - human and natural, the poem and the reader, the narrator telling the boy and you the reader 'how-to', capturing only to release, the canvas of the painting and the canvas of the book. It is one of those wonderful adventures when the boundaries between are porous, disappearing, tangible but wistfully erased.
Mordecai Gerstein's illustrations are enchanting as well. Except for the first startled encounter, the boy is looking at the bird as an artist looks at his subject, the boy is focused on his painting, a serious and patient young man. Meanwhile, the bird looks at the boy as someone engaged in interesting but eccentric behavior. Will the bird enter the canvas, will the bird sing from the cage, can the bird fly off for the moon and the stars?
The poem is about painting a 'portrait' of a bird, what birder's call the 'field guide' view - perched, still, and is the bird alive enough to sing?
Prevert - a popular poet, deemed a surrealist during his time - twines different dimensions together throughout the poem - human and natural, the poem and the reader, the narrator telling the boy and you the reader 'how-to', capturing only to release, the canvas of the painting and the canvas of the book. It is one of those wonderful adventures when the boundaries between are porous, disappearing, tangible but wistfully erased.
Mordecai Gerstein's illustrations are enchanting as well. Except for the first startled encounter, the boy is looking at the bird as an artist looks at his subject, the boy is focused on his painting, a serious and patient young man. Meanwhile, the bird looks at the boy as someone engaged in interesting but eccentric behavior. Will the bird enter the canvas, will the bird sing from the cage, can the bird fly off for the moon and the stars?
The poem is about painting a 'portrait' of a bird, what birder's call the 'field guide' view - perched, still, and is the bird alive enough to sing?