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Catching the Cock
Potter: Flynn, Michael
Porcelain hand-modelled, glazed and painted with dabs of turquoise-blue, green, yellow, orange, and dark red. Figure of a nude man on a small, shallow, triangular base with uneven sides, and of uneven height. He stands on the ball of his right foot. His right leg is bent at the knee, and his left leg, also bent at the knee, is crossed in front of the other leg with the foot in the air. His torso is leaning slightly to the left as he reaches out with both arms to grasp a cockerel which is flying towards the viewer. The man has a long nose, large ears, and hair flying out into two points at the back. His 'cock' is erect (it would probably have dropped off during firing otherwise).
History note: Purchased by the donors from Contemporary Applied Arts, 2 Percy Street, London, W1P 9FA
Gift of Nicholas and Judith Goodison through the National Art Collections Fund.
Height: 32.8 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1999-10-11) by Goodison, Nicholas and Judith
20th Century, Late#
Elizabeth II
Production date:
AD 1999
Text from object entry in A. Game (2016) ‘Contemporary British Crafts: The Goodison Gift to the Fitzwilliam Museum’. London: Philip Wilson Publishers: Born in Germany, Michael Flynn spent some of his early childhood on a farm in Ireland. He initially studied Fine Art and worked as a painter but moved to study Ceramics at Cardiff College of Art (1975–78) under Alan Barrett-Danes (1935–2004). His highly distinctive figurative ceramics draw inspiration from such diverse sources as Meissen figurines, Expressionist art and the gestural ceramics of Peter Voulkos (1924–2002). Flynn uses a variety of ceramic techniques and materials including raku, terracotta and porcelain. He also occasionally works in bronze. His sculptures explore the tense nature of male/female relationships with suggestions of lust, violence, joy and ecstasy. His work is inspired by stories, myth and legend which he incorporates into his work. He has a studio in Cardiff but also spends parts of the year in Europe, mainly Germany and Poland. ‘A modern critique of traditional porcelain figure groups, clever and witty and highly relevant to the collections here [at The Fitzwilliam Museum].’ Duncan Robinson, Director, The Fitzwilliam Museum, 1995–2007.
Studio Ceramics
Contemporary Craft
Decoration
composed of
glaze
Glaze
Hand-modelling : Porcelain, hand-modelled, glazed and painted with dabs of turquoise-blue, green, yellow, orange, and dark red
Accession number: C.15-1999
Primary reference Number: 28517
Entry form number: 114
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Catching the Cock" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/28517 Accessed: 2024-11-02 16:37:43
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/28517
|title=Catching the Cock
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 16:37:43|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-28517
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa33/C_15_1999_1_201506_jas244_dc2.jpg"
alt="Catching the Cock"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Catching the Cock</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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