Horse
Artist
Deborah Butterfield
(American, born 1949)
Date1979
MediumChicken wire, sticks, mud, paper, dextrine, and dried grass on steel
DimensionsOverall: 75 1/4 × 96 × 26 inches (191.14 × 243.84 × 66.04 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: Nelson Gallery Foundation
Object numberF87-24
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionA life-sized standing horse constructed of dark brown mud and lighter brown large sticks.Gallery LabelUntil the 1990s, the horse was the singular motif in Deborah Butterfield's sculpture. The horse has a long history in art. It appears in ancient cave paintings as well as in modern equestrian monuments. In Butterfield's work, the horse is a metaphor for humanity.
Horse belongs to a series of work inspired by the imaginary shapes of horses she saw in the debris of a flooded river near her home in Montana. Butterfield recreated the image of a horse from these same materials-mud, wood and grass. The rawness of the materials stands in marked contrast to the grace and strength of the animal itself, with its gently curved neck and long, sharp backbone. Butterfield uses the image of the horse to carry autobiographical meaning, yet, the work speaks empathically to all of us.
Horse belongs to a series of work inspired by the imaginary shapes of horses she saw in the debris of a flooded river near her home in Montana. Butterfield recreated the image of a horse from these same materials-mud, wood and grass. The rawness of the materials stands in marked contrast to the grace and strength of the animal itself, with its gently curved neck and long, sharp backbone. Butterfield uses the image of the horse to carry autobiographical meaning, yet, the work speaks empathically to all of us.
Copyright© Deborah Butterfield / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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F91-77/7
