Walton Ford. Pancha Tantra by Walton Ford

In dazzling watercolor, the images impress as much for their impeccable realism as they do for their complex narratives.įirst available as a signed and limited volume, this updated edition of Pancha Tantra is the most comprehensive survey of Ford’s oeuvre to date, with 40 new works, more than 120 additional pages, and a new essay by the artist. In this stunning but sinister visual universe, beasts and birds are not mere aesthetic objects but dynamic actors in allegorical struggles: a wild turkey crushes a small parrot in its claw a troupe of monkeys wreaks havoc on a formal dinner table an American buffalo is surrounded by bloodied white wolves. A closer look reveals a complex and disturbingly anthropomorphic universe, full of symbols, sly jokes, and allusions to the ‘operatic’ quality of traditional natural history. The most comprehensive survey of Ford’s oeuvre to date, this publication features 40 new works, more than 120 additional pages, and a new essay by the artist.Īt first glance, Walton Ford’s large-scale, highly detailed watercolors of animals recall the prints of 19th-century illustrators John James Audubon and Edward Lear. Walton Ford’s large-scale watercolors of animals make up a unique anthropomorphic universe rich in sly jokes and hidden meaning. It also includes a complete professional biography as well as substantial excerpts from the textual sources for the paintings, from Vietnamese folktales and the letters of Benjamin Franklin to the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini and John James Audubon's Ornithological Biography. This book provides an in-depth exploration of Walton Ford's oeuvre. and considered to be the precursor to Aesop's Fables. Collected together for the first time as a limited-edition book, and now available as a popular edition, Ford's bestiary takes its name from one of the texts he frequently refers back to in his work: The Pancha Tantra, the ancient Indian book of animal fables collected from 3rd-5th Centuries B.C. With titles like Au Revoir Zaire, Necropolis, and Dirty Dick Burton's Aide de Camp, and Space Monkey, his paintings open the doors to a world of real-life fantasy, dreams, and nightmares - all with a stunning candor that almost belies the artist's intentions. Painted with the deft technique of a technical artist, Ford's works vibrate with an intensity of uncanny familiarity they are both reassuring in style and disturbing in content. Something strange and usually sinister is happening in each of Ford's works, whether it's a wild turkey crushing a small parrot with its claw, a collection of monkeys wreaking havoc on a formally set dinner table, or an American buffalo surrounded by a pack of bloodied white wolves.in the middle of a proper French garden.

Walton Ford's watercolors of animals could be mistaken for 19th century natural science illustrations or British colonial paintings. This book features a natural selection: Ford's beautifully savage beasts and birds.

Walton Ford. Pancha Tantra by Walton Ford