MARTIN SHARP / Max Ernst, The Birdman

Martin Sharp
Max Ernst, The Birdman, 1967
Colour screenprint on silver foil paper
72.6 x 50.9cm
Big O Posters Ltd, London

Condition: Very good. Minor crinkling throughout, consistent with the reflective silver foil stock.

~

Designed by Australian artist Martin Sharp in 1967, Max Ernst. The Birdman pays homage to one of Surrealism's most influential figures. Drawing on Ernst's recurring bird alter ego, Loplop, Sharp transforms a nineteenth-century engraving through his distinctive language of collage, vivid fluorescent colour and appropriation, producing one of the defining images of London's psychedelic underground.

After relocating from Sydney to London in 1966, Sharp became a central figure in the city's counterculture, co-founding Oz magazine and producing iconic posters for artists including Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Cream. While much of his work celebrated music and popular culture, posters such as Max Ernst. The Birdman reveal the deeper artistic lineage behind his practice, connecting psychedelic graphic design with the irreverence and dream logic of Surrealism.

Printed on reflective silver foil paper and published by Big O Posters, the work remains one of Sharp's most celebrated poster designs and an enduring example of the intersection between fine art and the visual culture of the 1960s.