Image from Peter Mauch
Last week I posted a collection of white horses in art and this week is dedicated to red animals. Red is a color that symbolized fire, spirit and power and that stands true in much of this work.
Full of Movement
It’s interesting to note the great amount of movement in almost all of these paintings. Each one tells a story about its subjects while effectively conveying the motion of the moment.
As an added bonus the color of the animals is an intense, almost violent red.
Bathing of A Red Horse – Kozma Petrov Vodkin
Grassing Horses – The Red Horses – Franz Marc
Troika with Wolves – Ivan Ivanovich Golikov
Red Cavalry Riding – Kazimir Severinovich Malevich
The Red Horses – Tulla Blomberg Ranslet
Packed Kürassierpferd – Wilhelm Trübner
Hard to Decipher
Anyone who can help with titles (or a better translation of titles) I’d love to be able to credit those I can’t translate or find properly. If not, then just enjoy. Be sure to check out part one of white horse art and stay tuned, there are more colors to come.
Kuerassierpferd (correct spelling, Kürassierpferd) In French = cuirasse, English = cuirass. It’s an obscure word in English, referring specifically to the heavy metal breastplate worn by European soldiers throughout the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Today it is only used in ceremonial dress.
Pferd = horse, roughly pronounced “fert” to American ears.
Therefore, a Kürassierpferd is a horse that carries a battle-dressed soldier. They are strong enough to carry the extra weight, and usually trained in battle maneuvers, like an early precursor to today’s dressage horses.
The horse in the painting above looks like he is packed for a long trek to the front lines, and is quite light in bone to be a battle horse. In this instance, the title of the painting may simply have the more general meaning of “Soldier’s horse”. Or, what we would call a cavalry mount.
Great artwork collection, Paige. I’m really enjoying this series of posts.
Thanks for the info Polomare, I’ve updated the spelling above and it’s interesting to learn a new German word.
I’m so glad you are enjoying the posts, it was great fun to put them together (I love horse art) and I’ll keep them coming.
Oh, and if I didn’t make it clear from my post above, Kürassierpferd is a German word. The Germans borrowed it from the French cuirass.
Again you show us wonderful things, thank you! I really love your site and tweets. I am startled by the malevich oicture, didn´t kno he did such things! And: yes, Kürassierpferd i a german word, did not even know, that it´s origin is french…
Glad you like & let me know if there is anything else you’d like to see more of. I’m going to look for some more horse art. 😉
Stubbs Wistlejacket really deserves a mention here!
Hi Carrie,
I agree that no horse art post is complete without Whistlejacket. I’ve got him, just on another post. Although I think he was chestnut I’ve got him with the palomino horse art – because of that flaxen mane and tail of his.
You can see that post here: http://www.theequinest.com/palomino-art/
http://images.easyart.com/i/prints/rw/lg/8/0/George-Stubbs-Whistlejacket-8082.jpg
love your posts….thankyou.
Appalling pictures above on red horses so the only good one was the bottom by Wilhem Trubner.
Loved Whistlejacket on the Palmomino page but thought this picture of Fraser with Mr. Miller Up – Cornelius Krieghoff was of a Chestnut rather than a Palomino.
Thank you for this wonderful article!
Maybe you could write another article about blue horses. Franz Marc has some beautiful paintings, and Tulla Blomberg Ranslet also has a painting of blue horses, available in the article about her in Wikipedia.