Chico da Silva

Fantastic Bird

Fantastic BirdChico da Silva · 1973 · Acrylic on canvas
An arching long-necked fantastic bird on a cream ground with dense patterned body. Fantastic Bird, Chico da Silva, 1973, acrylic on canvas.
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Description for blind and low-vision visitors

A vertical painting on a warm cream background showing a fantastic bird whose long neck arches up and curves back down to a small turquoise beaked head at the right. The bird's large rounded body is a mosaic of red, green and grey patches packed with tiny figures, hearts and white speckling. Streaked tail feathers spill toward the lower right and the bird's dark legs and clawed feet descend at the lower left. Loose blue and reddish brushwork frames the figure, with the painted signature and date in the naive folk style.

Artist
Chico da Silva
Year
1973
Technique
Acrylic on canvas
Support
Canvas
Dimensions
70 x 50 cm
Motif
Birds
Collection
João Cunha Collection
Signature
FDZILVA, lower center (reversed S)
Photo
Eric Keki
Inventory no.
JCC-011

The signature

Detail of the painted signature: «FDZILVA»
The canvas is signed “FDZILVA”, at the center of the lower edge. The S is reversed, so it reads as the artist's usual signature, “F. D. Silva”. Beside it sits the painter's thumbprint.

How to credit

Photographs free to reuse, with credit (CC BY 4.0)

Chico da Silva, “Fantastic Bird” (1973). Photo: Eric Keki, João Cunha Collection, CC BY 4.0. https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-011

The license covers the photograph, not the painting.

For IIIF viewers