1. Getz-Preziosi (1985) states '...In modern times Cycladic figures were at first considered primitive, in the pejorative sense of the word, and ugly, and, at best, curiosities from the dim recesses of Greek prehistory. Rediscovered in the twentieth century, largely through the appreciation of such artists as Picasso and Brancusi, they have come to be highly esteemed for their compelling combination of gleaming white marble and painstaking workmanship, for the calm force of their essential forms and for the mystery that surrounds them.'

2. Renfrew(1991) discusses the possible influence Cycladic artefacts have had on artists of the twentieth century.

3. Getz-Preziosi (1985) states that the increase in interest and hence demand has resulted in unauthorised digging, thus losing the provenance of the majority of the Cycladic artefacts known to exist.

4. The terminology describing the different periods varies slightly between scholars. For this paper I have adopted the terminology used by Getz-Preziosi (1985)

5. Getz-Preziosi suggests post partum wrinkles with reference to the figures that show a pregnant female but she also suggests that these lines may indicate bindings of some kind.

5a. reprinted from the introduction to a catalogue of John Graham's exhibition at the Dudensing Gallery in 1929.

6. I use the term 'meaning' here to include an idea, message, significance or state of being.

7. Quoted in Duro. P and Greenhalgh, M. Essential Art History (1965)

8. Although the precursor to Bird in Space was Maiastra, it refers to a Romanian legend of a bird.

9. This was first documented by Christos Doumas, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Athens.