Elizabeth Butterworth

Elizabeth Butterworth (b. 1949, Rochdale) is known for a distinctive body of work in which the close observation of birds is transformed into compositions of remarkable precision, colour and formal invention.

Best known for her studies of parrots, macaws and cockatoos, over five decades she has developed a visual language in which structure, pattern and movement are as important as description. Her meticulous drawings, watercolours and prints are rooted in direct observation, but increasingly move beyond naturalistic depiction to explore the formal and expressive possibilities of plumage, feathers and wings.

Butterworth studied at Rochdale School of Art, Maidstone College of Art and, from 1971 to 1974, the Royal College of Art in London. Her exceptional draughtsmanship quickly attracted attention, and in 1973 Angela Flowers included her work in British Drawing 1952–1972. Her first solo exhibition followed at Angela Flowers Gallery in 1975. In 1993, the art historian and critic Ian Dunlop described her depictions of macaws as “without rival this century”.

Her work is underpinned by an unusually deep knowledge of its subject. Butterworth bred macaws for many years and travelled to the rainforests of South America to observe them in their natural habitat. She also made regular visits to the Natural History Museum in London, studying the anatomy, colour and structure of birds at close range. This combination of scientific scrutiny and artistic instinct gives her work its particular authority, while her later compositions reveal a growing interest in fragmentation, rhythm and abstraction.

Butterworth has exhibited widely in Britain and internationally. Important exhibitions include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1985; the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, in 1994; and the Natural History Museum, London, where her exhibition Amazons, Macaws and Cockatoos was held in 2001.

She first exhibited at The Redfern Gallery in 1997, with further solo exhibitions in 2001 and 2009. Her work is represented in more than twenty-five museums and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum and Natural History Museum, London; the Government Art Collection; and the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Butterworth lives and works in Sussex and is represented by The Redfern Gallery.