Herman (Josef). Song of the Migrant Bird. Small folio, colour lithograph title, dedication and 52 lithographs printed by Stanley Jones, individually numbered and signed in pencil by the artist, Curwen Chilford Prints, (1999).
Number 10 of 50 sets on Somerset mouldmade paper, the prints loose as issued in the original drop-backed box. A fine copy.
'It must have been ten or more years ago that we began to spend summer weeks in the fishing village of Dunwich on the Suffolk coast, halfway between Aldeburgh and Southwold. The spell of that great sweep of shingle under its dome of East Anglian skies draws one back irresistibly, and there I spent hours on the beach drawing boats and the men.
It was there that began my fascination with sea gulls, the aura of something near mythical that they brought to the scene.
Back in my London studio, as I worked on the drawings in mixed media there, over the years I developed a concept of an abstract bird.
The line of text under each bird grew out of wider, random reflection and was in no way intended as an illustration of the image.
Gradually, I could see a continuity in the body of the work.'