Fledgling Canada Warbler with Monarch Butterfly
Artist
Edward Marshall Boehm
(American, 1913 - 1969)
Date1967
Mediumporcelain, bisque fired, hand-painted
Dimensions8 1/2 × 8 inches (21.6 × 20.3 cm)
Credit LinePurchase of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, 1968
Object number41.2.45
ClassificationsDecorative Arts
DescriptionPorcelain sculpture of Fledgling Canada Warbler with Monarch ButterflyLabel TextThe bright orange of the monarch butterfly provides protection. The color warns predators. Scientists call this aposematic coloration. The monarch caterpillars eat milkweed, producing a toxin that stays in the butterfly’s body. A predator will become sick if it eats a monarch. It usually will survive and will avoid the butterfly in the future. Boehm portrayed an agitated Canada warbler facing off against a monarch perched on a stem. A fledgling is a bird that has just learned to fly. Has this young bird learned the lesson of dangerous orange?
ProvenancePurchased August 10, 1968 through (Wakefield-Scearce Galleries, Shelbyville, Kentucky) by the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art
On View
On view
