My eye is overwhelmed by the monumentality of this sculpture. Although it could simply be dismissed as another equestrian statue, an unknown horse and rider, the title given highlights the chosen message conveyed, backed up by the scale of the piece. Known primarily as a painter and with his sculptural works mostly forgotten, it is perhaps surprising to attribute such a piece to painter George Frederic Watts. However, his figures in his paintings often have a sculptural feel to them, and he did model some before translating their forms onto canvas. Furthermore an interest in texture has always been prominent in his works, shown here by his modelling in gesso which produces a puckered effect while the gesso is still wet. The emphasises the movement of the piece, the feel of dynamism, almost prefiguring Futurism, as the muscles of the horse contract and the male figure's body contorts and elongates to control the animal beneath him.
The statue is not without its complicated history. As a sculpture in bronze, it can be recast and effectively mass produced, and is therefore situated in multiple locations (this particular design is found in Kensington Gardens). Another replica was commissioned in 1959 as a memorial to Cecil Rhodes in South Africa. With its dynamic and powerful pose, the sculpture is well suited to depicting a commanding figure like Rhodes. Upon gaining independence no less than ten years later, there were demands by Zambia for the sculpture to be removed. That version now resides in the National Archives of Zimbabwe, alongside other dismantled colonial monuments. As well as this, R.E. Gutch discusses Watts's use of the Parthenon Marbles for inspiration, looted artifacts that found their way to Britain with the accompanying baggage of colonialism. The head of the horse is more or less copied from the frieze. Equally, Gutch believes the rider to be modelled on the form of Dionysus, although this is less clear.
It is therefore no surprise that the sculpture was an obsession of Watts for the last thirty years of his career, as he played around with the figure, the horse, the action, gesture, movement and dynamism. Viewed in the round in the naturalistic setting of the gardens, one can appreciate the full extent of Watts's mastery over the medium. Not only does he reflect the power of man and beast in this work, but also incorporates the quintessential Victorian beliefs of power, dynamism and striving towards the future. The gaze of the rider tilted upwards is almost like a propagandist poster, looking forward to a new day, the next innovation, and a fresh utopia. Watts's interest in Power and Energy must be read with Victorian attitudes in mind. This forgotten sculpture needs to be appreciated not just for its manipulation of the medium of bronze, a calling towards modernist sculpture, but also for its Victorian implications and surrounding legacies of colonialism.
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