Signed 'Coburn' lower right

Birds have alway been an important motif in John Coburn's work. They are a device used to represent forces of good and are also a homage to Braque, a painter Coburn admired. White Bird in Garden is a rare gold leaf work in which the bird in flight soars between Coburn's organic, Miro-esque shapes. 

During 1984 Coburn's work was represented in the Blake Prize for Religious Art - the 25 years: a survey, held at Monash University and The Great Decades of Australian Art – Selected Masterpieces from the JGL Collection at the National Gallery of Victoria.White Bird in Garden 1984 is listed in the chronology of paintings in Nadine Amadio’s, John Coburn: Paintings, Craftsman House, 1988.

Reference: Nadine Amadio, John Coburn: Paintings, Craftsman House, 1988, p.188