Black Egret

Ellen Lanyon

Chicago printmaker Ellen Lanyon shows her exceptional drawing skills to create this large lithograph of two African Black Egrets, done at Landfall Press in Chicago with Master Printer Jack Lemon.

The bird in the foreground is sketched in, as if in glaring sunlight and the other with its black plumage. Lanyon focuses the viewer's attention on the two birds by just suggesting a landscape as a surround. The whole lithograph is printed on a light gray paper.

During courtship the Black Egret (Heron) grows long feather plumes on its crown and nape. The black heron occurs through Sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal and Sudan to South Africa, but is found mainly on the eastern half of the continent and in Madagascar. It has also been observed in Greece and Italy.