Images

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=64EA0499A79A94D7931806142D1279E9B5B73D388AC07F92B0C1BDA1D8E15133&s=24247294&se=434893960&v=3&f=1964.340_o2.jpg

Additional Views

Feb 25, 2008

A Bird in the Room

1955

Kay Sage

(American, 1898–1963)

America, 20th century

Oil on canvas

Unframed: 99.1 x 81.3 cm (39 x 32 in.)

Bequest of Kay Sage Tanguy 1964.340

Location

226B American Modern

Did you know?

To maintain her own identity, Sage often refused to exhibit with her husband, also an artist.

Description

Sage created this work, one of her most somber and desolate, shortly after the death of her husband, Yves Tanguy (1900–1955), who was also an esteemed Surrealist painter. The title likely refers to the folk legend that says a wild bird flying into a house is a premonition of death—an actual event that Sage experienced shortly before Tanguy passed away. Although for most of her career she was a prolific artist, Sage increasingly lost her momentum and inspiration during widowhood. Unable to endure living with her loss, she became reclusive and depressed, eventually succeeding in her second attempt at suicide by shooting herself in the heart.

Video

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower left: Kay Sage '55 Written on back of stretcher: "A Bird in the Room '55 Kay Sage/Woodbury, Conn."

Provenance

1955-1964

Kay Sage [1898-1963], Woodbury, CT, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1964-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Porter, Fairfield. "Kay Sage," Art News 54 (January 1956). Mentioned: p. 56; Reproduced: p. 56

Breuning, Margaret. "Kay Sage," Arts 30 (January 1956). Mentioned: p. 49

Devree, Howard. "Reality and Fantasy." New York Times, January 8, 1956. Reproduced: p. 19

Kay Sage Retrospective Exhibition, 1937-1958, exh. cat. (New York: Catherine Viviano Gallery, 1960) Reproduced: n. 45

"Annual Report for 1964," The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art 52 (June 1965). Mentioned: p. 156-157

"Year in Review," The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art 52 (November 1965). Reproduced: p. 157

Bailey, Holly M. Kay Sage, 1898-1963. Ithaca, NY: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, 1977. Reproduced: n. 53

Andre, Tomas. "Kay Sage: Exploring the Conscious Unconscious." Ithaca Post, Art section, February 27, 1977.

Appelhof, Ruth Ann. "Kay Sage: the Super-Reality of Dreams and Modern Women Artists." Syracuse Guide Visual Arts section, May 1977.

Miller, Stephen R. "The Surrealist Imagery of Kay Sage," Art International 26 (September - October 1983). Mentioned: p. 45; Reproduced: p. 44

Suther, Judith D. A House of Her Own: Kay Sage, Solitary Surrealist. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. Mentioned: p. 167-171; Reproduced: p. 39

Miller, Stephen Robeson, Jonathan Stuhlman. Double Solitaire: The Surreal Worlds of Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy. ed. Nancy Wallach. Katonah, N.Y.: Katonah Museum of Art, 2011. Reproduced: p. 98, no. 44

Miller, Stephen Robeson, Jessie Sentivan, Mary Ann Caws, and Kay Sage. Kay Sage: Catalogue Raisonné. New York, NY : DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2018. jMentioned & reproduced: p. 290-291, pl. 1955.3

Exhibition history

Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York, "Kay Sage: Exhibition of Paintings," January 3-28, 1956, no. 7.

Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York, "Kay Sage Retrospective Exhibition, 1937-1958," April 5-30, 1960, no. 45.

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, "Kay Sage, 1898-1963," January 26 - March 13, 1977, cat. 53. Travelled to Art Gallery, University of Maryland, April 5 - May 15, 1977; and Albany Institute of History and Art, June 8 - July 20, 1977.

Katonah Museum of Art, NY (6/5/2011 - 9/18/2011), Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley, MA (10/8/2011 - 1/8/2012), and Mint Museum of Art/Uptown, Charlotte, NC (2/11/2012 - 5/13/2012): "Double Solitaire: The Surrealist Worlds of Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy", ex. cat. no. 44, p. 98.

Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965).

Kay Sage, 1898-1963. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY (organizer) (January 26-March 13, 1977); Art Gallery, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, MD (April 5-May 15, 1977); Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY (June 8-July 20, 1977).

Double Solitaire: The Surrealist Worlds of Kay Sage and Yves Tanguy. Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (organizer) (June 5-September 18, 2011); Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley, MA (October 8, 2011-January 8, 2012); Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC (February 11, 2012-May 13, 2013).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=A Bird in the Room|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.340|author=Kay Sage|year=1955|access-date=29 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.

You are here:

Images

A Bird in the Room

A Bird in the Room

Kay Sage

Location

Download and Share

Did you know?

Description

Video

Inscription

Contact us