The Thoroughbred horse has held the fascination of artists since the breeds beginnings in the 17th & 18th century.
This high energy breed and racing itself began in England, but the trend of horse racing took hold worldwide and many different countries imported English animals to create their own Thoroughbred bloodlines.
Recently I’ve been doing some research through public domain art and was delighted to see so many artistic representations of this spirited breed.
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Born in Munich, Franz Marc went on to be known as one of the principal artists of the German Expressionist movement. He studied in Munich and in Paris where he discovered the work of Vincent van Gogh.
Much of Marc’s work was done in woodcut and lithography and he was fond of using vibrant color to portray his animals while placing them in more muted natural settings.
Color had a great deal of meaning to Franz, so each color he used was infused with emotion and meaning. Blue for masculinity & spirituality, yellow for femininity & joy and red for the sound of violence.
Anton was a Dutch realist painter who was perhaps best known for being an influence on the early work of Vincent van Gogh (his wife’s cousin). This is an artist who didn’t carry the support of his family into his artistic endeavors, which seemed to drive his work.
The majority of his pieces were painted to depict life in the countryside of Holland, he loved the landscape and delighted in capturing the soft colors he found there.
The pieces below have horses in them by default, animals that drove and carried the daily life in the country. However his soft brush strokes and loving vision bring the subjects of his art to life in a rather magical way.
Image from Glamhag
For those of us who love horses, art that represents them is an important craft. I’ve visited a number of horses as painted by the masters but this post has a more contemporary flair.
Here are a few blast from the past posts that feature both fun and fantastic horse art, from origami to pegasus to unicorn.
If you love horses, chances are there is a funky art form here you will enjoy.
Horse Art | Unicorn Art | Origami Horses | Pegasus Art | More Pegasus
Unusual Horse Art | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3
Willy Bosschem is a Belgian artist who has dabbled in a variety of mediums from etching and illustration to graphic design and painting. His portfolio includes a number of sets for theater & tv as well as stamps for Belgium, Rwanda & Senegal.
Willy is clearly a lover of the human form, but his love of animal shapes also comes through in his work. In fact, his love of shape led him to become quite creative in his methodology and medium choices.
His work is full of curves & color and carries overtly sexy themes, deftly displayed with movement and vibrance.
Willy was a big cat lover and some of his most beautiful paintings (in my opinion) are birds, but he clearly appreciated the equine form as well.
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Although he was born in France, Henry Farny immigrated to North America early in life and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio where he spent most of his life.
His education took him back to Europe & he studied in Dusseldorf and Munich learning some of the most sophisticated artistic techniques available during that time. Interestingly enough it was his artistic influences in Europe that convinced Farny to visit the American West.
After he returned from studying abroad Henry spent quite a bit of time in the west gaining inspiration for his art. Later, back in his Cincinnati studio he applied this inspiration and created his prolific paintings of the Native people of the American West.
If you haven’t seen it already, be sure to check out Part 1.
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Perhaps one of my favorite artists so far, Henry F. Farny’s images provide an in-depth look into how he viewed the wild west. An import in the Americas, Henry was born in France and immigrated to Pennsylvania with his family at a very young age.
As with most of the artists I’ve shown, horses find themselves an indirect subject within his art. However that doesn’t make them any less important in the final product, Mr. Farny’s work shows us how important the equine animal became to the native people of North America.
Here is Henry’s version of the wild west, not always telling a happy story, but providing a glimpse into his vision of life during that time. His work is incredibly prolific, in fact there is so much of it I had to split his post into two parts.
Valentin Serov was a Russian painter and one of the premier portrait artists of his era. His favorite models were actors, artists & writers, however he managed to throw a horse or two in there for the equine lovers.
Although he stuck mainly to portraiture, his style encompassed many different phases and each piece reflected the subject on a number of levels. He was as fond of soft, intimate portraits of women and children as he was of bolder, more intense portraits of military men.
His work evokes feelings of spontaneity and movement and it is clear that he appreciated the lovely lines & whimsical nature of the equine animal.
James Ward started off in the family business as an engraver and was later appreciated for his English Romantic painting. He was largely influenced by his interest in engraving as well as the artwork of Paul Rubens during his career.
James became known as an animal & landscape artists and his strong appreciation for the form of animals is evident throughout his artwork. He was a driven artist and created a number of portraits, landscapes and history paintings – many of which were later engraved.
Mr. Ward’s art is thought to effortlessly reflect the grace & charm of the Romantic era through technical skill and artistry.
Sadly, this is one great artist who was not appreciated in life as he is today. He died in poverty not long after a stroke ended his work in 1855.
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Fredric Remington’s art defined the iconic wild west and his vision is still ingrained in how we view that period in history today.
His painting and sculpture portrays the drama and conflict of settling the west & his characters are the definitive members of the western battles, Native Americans, cowboys and soldiers.
Interestingly enough, Frederic was born in New York and spend much of his life on the East Coast. Although he enjoyed the West and visited there to find inspiration for his work, he remained an East Coast man at heart.
Evariste was a French painter, born into a family of lawyers who (interestingly enough) encouraged his art and sent him to Paris when he was 18 so he could learn from well known sculptors & painters of the time.
This is a bright artist who spent much of his time focusing on the darker themes of life. Much of his work depicts struggle, battle and turmoil, although his equine pieces tend to be some of his more whimsical work.
In stark contrast to the darkness of the themes is the the loving attention to detail that goes into each of his pieces.
A French artist, Alfred DeDreux came from a rather artistic family, his father was an architect and his younger sister was an artist as well.
Alfred appreciated the horse as a subject from the beginning of his artistic career & was well known for his equine portraits.
While he cultivated his art in France, it was the British animal painters who inspired him and some of his most celebrated portraits were produced while he was in Britain.
He became quite fashionable as a portrait artist during the mid 19th century, although he chose to concentrate on his equestrian (and dog) paintings. This is just a small selection of his prolific equine work.
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