1963, Etching, Sixth state, 255 mm x 205 mm. on printing paper with BFK Rives watermark.
Balkanyi’s genius with texture makes this one of her greatest single images. It needs no background, no context, no supporting cast.
In the pencil studies, Balkanyi loosely sketches in a shadow on the ground and has the bird leaning forwards. In the final engraving the bird stands proudly upright and is so well drawn that its feet alone define the ground on which it stands.
The Peacock is one of the few images which Balkanyi signed on the plate. The image was used for the poster advertising the 1964 group show by La Pointe et Burin at the Galerie Vendôme.
