WORK OF THE WEEK: Barry Flanagan, Horse, Mirrored, 1995

Barry Flanagan
Horse, Mirrored, 1995
Bronze
154 x 109 x 40.6 cm
60 ⅝ x 42 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ x 16 in.
Edition 2 of 8 plus 3 APs

Barry Flanagan's Horse, Mirrored has only been exhibited once, when another cast was shown at Jesus College, Cambridge for the 1996 exhibition, Sculpture in the Close. In art history, the horse has symbolised power, gallantry and elegance. The size and relationship between the two pieces in Horse, Mirrored make it a particularly potent image which has echoes of the horse in classical sculpture, as well as a more fanciful approach. The emphasised curve of the horseback, the sinuous nature of the legs and the raised hooves, are characteristic of his distinctive method when sculpting anthropomorphic creatures. Compounded with the sketchy surface quality, as Flanagan leaves traces of his hand, the work is transformed to appear as though in motion, evoking a feeling of energy and vitality.

Barry Flanagan first considered depicting horses in his sculpture after he attended The Horse of San Marco, an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1979. The great age of these ancient Ottoman bronze horses demonstrated the enduring relationship between man and horse. In Horse, Mirrored, newly sited at Roche Court, the horses mirror themselves, one base reading sheep boys, the other cow girl, engendering themes of companionship and alliance.

Born in Prestatyn, North Wales in 1941, Barry Flanagan graduated from Saint Martin’s School of Art in 1966.

In his early practice he was associated with emergent art movements of the time, including Arte Povera, Land Art, and Process Art, and in 1987, he represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale.

In 1991 he was awarded an OBE, and elected to the Royal Academy of Arts. A major retrospective of his work was held at the Fundación ‘La Caixa’, Madrid, in 1993, and another, following his death, at Tate Britain in 2011. His work has been shown in many solo shows including at MoMA, New York, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Recent exhibitions include In Contemplation, at the Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand (2022); Barry Flanagan at Von Bartha in Basel, Switzerland (2021), and Barry Flanagan: Pataphysics and Play, at Kasmin Gallery, New York (2023).

Barry Flanagan’s work is held in numerous public collections worldwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan; Tate Britain, London; Arts Council of England; the British Council; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Park, USA; the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Netherlands; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and the Royal Academy of Arts, London. He lived and worked in Dublin and London.

Installed at Roche Court Sculpture Park: Barry Flanagan, Horse, Mirrored, 1995, bronze, 154 x 109 x 40.6 cm