Mighty Steeds

Collector's Focus: Art of the Horse

By John O’Hern

Among the great horses of history is Bucephalus, the wild stallion tamed by Alexander the Great. The horse had been given to King Philip II of Thessalonia, Alexander’s father. It was thought to be too wild to tame and was led away. Alexander had noticed that it seemed to be afraid of its shadow and turned him into the sun so his shadow was behind him. He mounted the calmed horse, attached a bridle and the rest, as they say, is history. Alexander rode Bucephalus into battle, naming a city for him in what is now Pakistan after he was killed in battle in 326 BCE.

An 18th-century graphite and ink drawing by Felice Giani depicts Alexander taming Bucephalus while his father and other warriors look on in amazement.George Billis Gallery, #5, graphite on canvas, 60 x 72", by Joseph Piccillo.

Anton Uhl, Before Dark, oil on canvas, 18 x 24"

Frank Califano’s admiration for primitive art as well as for horses is evident in his bronze sculpture Let’s Talk. The proud horse resembles stylized horse sculptures from ancient Greece and reflects his admiration for Diego Giacometti and Henry Moore. A bit taken aback by the girl standing in front of him hiding a rope behind her back, the horse may be on the cusp of a lifelong relationship with his about-to-be trainer.

Califano says, “Before starting a sculpture, I already have a name for the piece and a good idea of what it will look like. I do not make preliminary modeling or sketches. My sculpture remains in the thought process until it has been clearly defined. At the proper time, and no sooner, I very quickly begin modeling the design elements that I’ve been processing for weeks. Because I’ve done no preliminary artwork related to this sculpture, the results are fresh and spontaneous. To keep me focused on my objective, I write the name of the piece on my work surface.”Ann Sherman, Guardian, bronze, 16 x 14 x 8"

Anton Uhl, Autumn Glow, oil on canvas, 36 x 48”

Corinne Dupeyrat explains, “If I had to define myself, I would say that I must have been an Amazon in a previous life, because as far as I can remember, I have always been passionate about horses.” Her father first put her on a horse when she was 3 years old. She trained in dressage and then pursued a career in interior architecture meanwhile dreaming of horses.

“I became the owner of a magnificent stallion and got back into the saddle,” she says. “Dressage: rigor and precision! At the same time, I took back my pencils; I wanted to praise this magnificent animal, a human companion for so long that he has been one of the essential actors in our story. What you feel on horseback I try to transcribe it into my drawings: lightness and grace, power and fiery.”

In her colored pencil drawing Treve III, the horse gazes back at her with a look of trust.Bob Snider, American Pharoah wins Arkansas Derby, oil on canvas, 30 x 40"

Carrie Nygren, Capone, oil, 30 x 40"

Carrie Nygren, Paris on the Rise, oil, 44 x 60"

Joseph Piccillo expands his graphite drawings of running and jumping horses on canvases often 6 feet wide. Their tensed, muscled, white bodies seem to float in the air as if they had escaped the bounds of gravity.

His soaring horses illustrate the feelings of the Dauphin in Shakespeare’s Henry V, who emoted, “When I bestride him, I soar. I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.”

This special section dedicated to equine artwork shows sculptures, drawings and paintings of these majestic creatures. The artists’ individual styles and techniques provide a glimpse at the many interpretations of the same subject.

Sculptor Ann Sherman’s bronze Guardian was inspired by her visits to the Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale, Arizona. “While they are beautiful when being ridden, I found the horses in hand to be much more expressive,” she says. “The naughtier they were, the more interesting they were to me.”Bob Snider, The Turn, oil on canvas, 30 x 40"

Jamie Lightfoot, Run Free, oil on wood panel, 24 x 36 x 1½"

Jamie Lightfoot’s goal is to manipulate light in a painting so it invites the viewer to come along on the journey. “The structure of the work provides a road map for the eye,” Lightfoot says. “But the path is impressionistic, leaving the mind to fill in the blanks and the observer’s soul to complete the scene. Each piece of art invites you on a different journey. And even though the eventual destination can be uncertain, the trip will provoke thought, feeling and action.”

Georgia-based artist Susan Easton Burns says spontaneity and intuition are the two most important concepts she tries to convey in her artwork. This is easy to see in one of her latest horse paintings, Inside Info, where the color and textures combine to create the equine. Explaining her inspiration for the painting, Burns says, “Being an insider and an outsider is not always what we think.”Susan Easton Burns, Inside Info, acrylic, 24 x 24"

Jamie Lightfoot, Out of the Wild, oil on wood panel, 36 x 24"

Bob Snider has been a professional painter for over 15 years and covers a range of subjects, including plein air painting in Italy and France, but his specialty is thoroughbred racing scenes. “For the serious art collector, the horse racing scenes have it all,” he says. “Action, texture and drama contained within an abstract design that causes the ground to shake beneath your feet.”

Artist Anton Uhl, who not only paints the figure, but also landscapes and equine subjects, says, “The camera shows us what we see with our eyes. The artist shows us what we see with our hearts.” See his work in the exhibition The Re-Awakening at Piano Craft Gallery in Boston, this summer, scheduled for July 29 to August 2. —