Exhibition of Sculpture of British Champion Animals by Herbert
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/S=/SaAs9f HERBERT HASELTINE AN EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE OF BRITISH CHAMPION ANIMALS KNOEDLER'S GALLERY, 15 OLD BOND STREET I HERBERT HASELTINE PORTRAIT OF HERBERT HASELTINE BY SIR WILLIAM ORPEN, R.A. EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE ^ 76_" *" "* ? OF BRITISH CHAMPION ANIMALS BY HERBERT HASELTINE (Held under the auspices of The Field) Wednesday, July 8th to Friday, July 31st, 1925 KNOEDLER'S GALLERY, 15 OLD BOND STREET, W.i SHIRE STALLION: FIELD MARSHAL V Preface The following is an extract translated from the Preface written by M. Georges Be'nedit, of the Academie Fran false, for the Catalogue of the Exhibition of Sculpture by Herbert Haseltine recently held in Paris. "HASELTINE, in Aime Morot's Studio, was quick to profit by his master's indications of the proper spirit in which to approach the Study of animal life. None amongSt those acquainted with Parisian art circles before the war can fail to have realized the feeling of the celebrated painter of 'The Charge at Rezonville,' for the lion and the leopard and Aime Morot's menagerie has since acquired an almost legendary reputation. His teaching, his admirable draughts manship, informed by his father-in-law Gerome's predilection for sculpture, was destined to bear fruit in the present instance; Plaseltine resigned the brush in favour of the chisel and addressed himself to the portrayal of animals. Fortunately for him, he has been able to profit by what is moSt essential to works of art in their relation to history, namely, their utilization for the purpose of practical record. JuSt as the paSt civilizations of Greece and of the EaSt used the sculptor's chisel as the helpmate of the chronicler's pen to perpetuate the glory of men as well as of gods, the en couragement given in England to the breeding of horses and Stock of all kinds has resulted in the distribution of honours to animals comparable to those offered by the Greeks to the viftors in their games, the 'Statuae iconicae,' alluded to in Pliny's Natural History. There again the Greeks had already consecrated such a custom, Hieron, the tyrant of Syracuse, among others, having commissioned the leading animal sculptor of the day, Calamis, to reproduce the horses who had won for him the chariot race at the Olympiad. 7 To a worthy successor of Calamis in the person of Haseltine, The Field, after consulting leading breeders, addressed a request for a plastic perpetuation of their champion animals. It must therefore be borne in mind that in this exhibition we are not in presence of animals merely typical of each individual breed, still less of conventional artist's models, but of the aftual winners in the show-yard and on the race-course, who were modelled bv the sculptor in different parts of the British Isles, in their stables, their stalls, and their pens. The Bulls include among their representatives the ABERDEEN ANGUS, the SHORTHORN and the HEREFORD. The Aberdeen Angus, a Scottish breed, is black without horns. His strong, bony frame is on a small scale, but carries a heavy mass of flesh. The black marble bull who does duty for them in this instance is called BLACK KNIGHT OF AUCHTERARDER. The champion of the Shorthorns, another Scottish breed, executed in red marble, is BRIDGEBANK PAYMASTER, a magnificent specimen, whose double victory in England and Scotland in three successive years is still remembered by the 'afficionados' of the show-ring. The Hereford 'stages,' TWYFORD FAIRY BOY, whose dark red coat contrasting with his white head, legs and tail, is almost as curly as that of sheep. The latter are also well represented by the two Lincoln rams, celebrated for the luxuriance and quality of their wool, and by the Southdown, whose meat is so highly esteemed that their breeders consider that of the former only fit to furnish candles to light the banquet at which Southdown mutton is consumed. Turning from the chewers of the cud, let us pause before the three extraordinary denizens of the pigstye, 'MIDDLE WHITES' and 'BERKSHIRES.' TWO of the former are represented for us by Haseltine in pink marble. The descendant of a Chinese dynasty, imported into Yorkshire in the eighteenth century, this monstrous quadruped still preserves the squat turned-up nose and stiff ears of his remote ancestry. The boar and his sow are both wonderful 8 SUFFOLK PUNCH STALLION : SUDBOURNE PREMIER (The Bronze Statue has been purchased by the French Government for the Luxembourg Museum) examples of the changes that breeding can cffe£t in nature. The super-production of fat has literally closed their eyes. The devotee of bacon may well make way respectfully for the black and white Berkshire, whose bent head suggests a hostile advance. It is obvious that these 'improvements' upon nature achieved by the breeders at the expense of so much sacrifice of the aesthetic, the pig's vast shiny bolster, the sheep's huge woollen blanket presented almost insuperable difficulties to the artist. He has, however, adroitly overcome them by faithfully reproducing the actual shapes and by confining his sense of the plastic to a classic treatment of their outlines, after the manner of the ancients. For those who have Studied the statues and bas-reliefs in Egypt, and the old Chinese bronzes as well as early Greek sculpture, Haseltine's handling of his porcine and ovine models will not fail to give the satisfaction of the highly finished work of art. It was naturally a matter of comparative ease to such an artist to execute the equine, which nature has already endowed with so much real beauty. He had, however, to reveal to us their characteristics. We recognize at once those of the draught-horse in the SHIRES with their feet flounced with hair, and in the SUFFOLK PUNCH, up to any weight that coat-of-mail and caparison could have put upon him. Then again there is the group of the three French PERCHER- ONS, imported into England since the war and worthy rivals of the sons of her soil. Each member of the family shows his individual traits. The sire arches his neck and turns away as if to neigh, while the dam Stretches tenderly towards the foal, who clings closely to her flank. We can contrast them with the silhouette of the thorough bred, which holds its head victoriously. It is SERGEANT MURPHY, winner of the Grand National at fourteen years of age, a splendid specimen of a steeplechaser. Here again is POLYMELUS, himself winner of many races on the flat, and, in 1916, 1920, and 1921, at the head of the list of winning sires, who can boaSt in the equine F.lysian fields of having left behind him a posterity which has won more than £220,000. The artist shows him just as he modelled him a few months before his death, and, decrepit as he was, one 11 can Still trace his fine proportions, his depth of shoulder and length of rein. The type of heavy-weight POLO PONY is represented by PERFEC TION. His forbears are unknown, but he was bred in Ireland. 'Stocky' and strong on his legs, he is an admirable specimen of the ponies, who are as keen at the game as the players themselves, and who recall Pliny's ' [am tela humi collefta equiti porrigunt,' where the mounts of the javelin-men seem so at one with their masters that they would fain pick up for them the weapons fallen from their hands. In the course of his close study of these wonderful examples of British breeding, Haseltine has been brought into contact with all those interested in their welfare, from owners to stud-grooms and herdsmen, and has been able to draw upon the knowledge accumu lated by them from day to day to supplement his own powers of observation. His chief merit lies in his having realized that the pursuit of their utilitarian ideal of the best furnishes the artist with the essentials for his own pursuit of the beautiful. To give to the lines the simplest expression, to reconstruct nature's handiwork in accordance with man's directions, to feel in it and to give to it its due proportion and to endow it with the technical detail which every aspect, demands, can alone satisfy the true artist and constitute a true work of art. Need I add that the message conveyed by the great sculptor, Herbert Haseltine, is one from which all lovers of animals may derive a real sensation of delight?" 12 PERCHERON STALLION : RHUM (Forming part of the Group : The Percherons) CATALOGUE i. SHIRE STALLION: FIELD MARSHAL V. Foaled 1917. Sire: CHAMPION'S CLANSMAN. Dam: EARLY PRIMROSE. Bred by and the Property of His Majesty the King, Sandringham Stud. First and Champion at the Show of the Shire Horse Society, 1920 and 1921. (Unfinished plaster model, to be executed in Belgian granite). 2. SHIRE STALLION: HARBORO' NULLI SECUNDUS. Foaled 1914. Sire: BABINGLEY NULLI SECUNDUS. Dam: TATTON FRIEZE by TATTON FRIAR. Bred by W. T. Hayr, Esq., and the property of Mrs. Stanton of Snelston Hall, Derbyshire. First and Reserve Junior Champion at the Show of the Shire Horse Society, 1917. FirsJ and Reserve Champion at the Show of the Shire Horse Society, 1918. First and Champion at the Show of the Shire Horse Society, 1922, 1923. First and Champion at the Show of the Royal Lancashire Society, 1923. (Unfinished plaster model, to be executed in marble.) 3. SUFFOLK PUNCH STALLION: SUDBOURNE PREMIER. Foaled 1919. Sire: SUDBOURNE BEAU BROCADE. Dam: SUD- BOURNE MOONLIGHT. Bred by the late Rt.