The Original Pink Flamingos: Splendor on the Grass

A joyful celebration of everyone's favorite tacky lawn ornament—the pink plastic flamingo!

"In 1957, Don Featherstone sculptured the first three-dimensional pink plastic flamingo, thereby making affordable bad taste accessible to the American public." —from Pink Flamingos.

This is the tale of a wonderful bird, named by his creator phoenicopteris ruber plasticus—an avian species now known to all as "Pink Plastic Flamingo." This volume's more than one hundred pictures are the result of Featherstone's request that adoring owners of the pink birds send original photographs that demonstrate their affection for phoenicopteris on its 40th birthday in 1997.

The overwhelming response included such masterpieces as "Biker Birds," "What a Pear," "The Wedding Party," "Anyone for Bridge," "Purple Passion," "Beachcombers," and the sweetly romantic "Flamingo Honeymoon." This book is one of a kind, the documentation of American genius, homage to an icon, or, perhaps, a rare opportunity to observe a culturally tolerated symbol of taste gone awry. It's great fun!

More than 60 years ago, artist Don Featherstone capitulated to reality and accepted employment with Union Products, hired to render a white duck and a pink plastic flamingo in three dimensions. The rest is cultural pop history: the Featherstone flamingo was born.