Mary Frank

Although Mary Frank is British by birth, she has spent much of her life in the United States, particularly in New York, where she studied drawing with Max Beckmann and Hans Hofmann. Known primarily as a sculptor, Frank has been turning increasingly to two-dimensional works that bring together the various themes of the human figure, landscape, and repetitive movement that she has explored in the past decade. She has produced many drawings of animals often made from observation in zoos or in their natural environment. In this striking drawing of a vulture Frank's choice to strongly silhouette the bird at its widest extension of wing span creates a powerful image that contrasts cleverly with the delicacy of its thin paper support. This image of a lone bird of prey strikingly silhouetted above a wide expanse of white recalls the spare aesthetic of Asian art, in which Frank often finds inspiration.