Horse being washed

Like art, riding requires one to take risks.  It is time for me to switch to quieter horses, while continuing to risk all at the easel - Sigmund Abeles

Work Horse

Well, it's just straight-forward work, that's all - Anna Hyatt Huntington

Okay, not a painted horse but Anna Hyatt Huntington's sculptures are powerful and she has influenced many, including an artist I like Sigmund Abeles.  She and her husband founded the Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach, which I understand are wonderful. One day I will visit.

Riders at Sunset

New Mexico has almost made a landscape painter out of me - E. Martin Hennings

Ernest Martin Hennings was part of the Taos art world in the early part of the 20th century. He was not exactly a horse painter but did include them in his compositions. I particularly like his use of light, the way he paints skies and the land.

Two Horses Running, One with a Rider

With the brush we merely tint, while the imagination alone produces colour - Theodore Gericault

This is a wonderful drawing, black chalk with brown ink & wash. Love the energy and the expressive use of line. It is no surprise to find Gericault was a rider himself and studied under painters known for their equestrian paintings. Gericault is, of course, best known for his famous works like The Raft of the Medusa or The Charging Chasseuar but it is his horse drawings and paintings I find most interesting and useful.

Hotwalking?

It is my observation that a painter always enjoys a conflict between logic and his instincts, and with me instinct always wins - Vaughn Flannaery

Not sure where I first saw any of his paintings, except it has only been on line, but really enjoy his style and his take on the theme of horses and racing. His paintings seem to be of the behind the scenes motifs.

He did advertising in the '20's and this shows in his sense of design and composition, was a director of the Maryland Jockey Club and moved to Harford County, MD from NYC in the early '30's.

I haven't been able to find the name of this panting so until I can, it Hotwalking. Could be a horse going to the sale ring, or just back to the barn. I like the color notes made along the bottom.

Sketch for Cowboys in the Badlands

Enthusiasm for one's goal lessens the disagreeableness of working toward it - Thomas Eakins

For awhile Eakins thought to pursue paintings of the western cowboy, spending time in the Dakota Territories. At some time he realized his was a more introspective style, not the same as say Remington's. Back east he literally drew from his collection of photographs which documented the cowboy more at rest. He even brought home two cow horses feeling that the wrong kind of horse would be a glaring error depicting the cowboy life. Outside of sketches and Cowboys of the Badlands, Eakins did not continue this genre. Although one of the horses, gray Billy, figured in many of Eakins photos, sketches, etc.

Race Horses before the Stands

I feel as a horse must feel when the beautiful cup is given to the jockey. - Edgar Degas

This painting has a wonderful sense of space and air. You can almost feel the sun as it washes a late afternoon light across all. The use of negative space is nice, all that blank track in the middle of the painting broken by slanting shadows and the one jockey & horse. The slight tilt of the jock's head, glancing at the crowd, is a nice touch.

Degas used the horse, and racing in particular, as a frequent motif. Like his dancer paintings, his interest lay more in the time that surrounds "the big moment". Here the time before the race, the jocks are settling themselves and their horses, saving their energy.