Bird of Paradise
Artist
Betty Hahn
(American, born 1940)
Date1980
Mediumdye diffusion prints (Polaroid Polacolor II)
DimensionsImage: 24 1/4 × 20 1/2 in. (61.6 × 52.1 cm)
Support (1): 30 × 22 in. (76.2 × 55.9 cm)
Support (2): 26 × 21 1/2 in. (66 × 54.6 cm)
Support (1): 30 × 22 in. (76.2 × 55.9 cm)
Support (2): 26 × 21 1/2 in. (66 × 54.6 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Betty Hahn, 2014
Object number2014.5.1
DescriptionBotanical composition with two stalks with Bird of Paradise blooms against a sheet of paper with botanical illustrations of the flower and its parts.eMuseum Notes
Playing off against the classic romantic overtones of floral subject matter, Betty Hahn instead creates a more clinical examination of flowers in her Botanical Layout series. Working at a time when many female artists were revisiting crafts and subject matter traditionally associated with women, Hahn tackles the delicate realm of flowers with a clinical eye. Placing them in a scientific context, the artist removes their symbolic and decorative overtones to create both an instruction manual and a memento mori.
On View
Not on viewTerms
- flowers (plants)
- botany
- science
- diagrams
- leaf (plant material)
![Untitled [Bird of Paradise]](/internal/media/dispatcher/10439/thumbnail)
