Biographical Information

John Alexander Harington Bird
British 1846-1936

Born on May 23 rd, Bird was educated in London, and intended to follow a military career but turned to art instead, and studied at the RA Schools. In 1875 he went to Montreal, Canada, where he took the post of Director of Art, the Board of School Commissions. He exhibited at the Royal Canadian Academy and became an associate member in 1880. In 1995 he returned to London where he lived for many years. Bird painted a great number of equestrian scenes, some for the Royal family and many Arabian horse scenes. The sports he covered include foxhunting, coaching, dressage, pig-sticking, coursing and racing. He died on January 3 rd 1936 in London. He worked in both oil and watercolor and painted a variety of subjects, particularly horses. A number of prints were published after his work, including “The Queen’s Race Winners”, a series of thirteen portraits of racehorses with jockeys up, and he also illustrated a number of publications. Bird’s work at its best is very finished but without the tightness of some of his contemporaries. He captures horses’ movements well and some of his hunting scenes are outstanding.