Henry Bird (artist)

Henry Bird (15 July 1909 – 16 April 2000) was an English artist from Northampton who painted murals and female nudes.

[4] The Times noted that he "was one of comparatively few artists to be thoroughly comfortable with the grand scale of ambitious public painting projects.

[4] He draw and painted female nudes "preferably big and beautiful" tempting them with cream cakes, sherry and gin.

His obituary in the Times observed that "he demanded high standards of his pupils, requiring them to study, for months, a brick, a milk bottle and an egg.

In their first class with him, students innocently surrendered their pencil rubber, which he then instantly ejected through a window on to the car park beneath.

He later said that the "beauty of St Peter's capitals, and the skill with which they were carved, helped to point the way to the kind of life he wanted.

[9] According his obituary in The Stage, "He was also something of a genuine eccentric, cutting an imposing figure with his flamboyant dress sense and usually seen around art colleges and galleries sporting a large fedora hat.

[1] According to his obituary in The Times, "His first sight of her was her face, suspended halfway up the stage curtain, painted green as a witch in a production of Macbeth at the Royal Theatre, Northampton.