RSA Scottish Art
Pony and Trap
 | Artist: James Howe |
| Title: Pony and Trap | |
| Year: undated | |
| Medium: pen & ink on paper | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| Description: James Howe was born in the village of Skirling, in South Lanarkshire, and as a boy he witnessed the annual horse fairs in his village. His major paintings were of horse fairs such as Skirling Fair and All Hallows Fair on the Borough Muir (Edinburgh City Art Centre).Throughout his career Howe made many hundreds of studies in either pencil or pen and ink. He was able to capture the speed and movement of his subjects with great fluency. His powers of observation were so good that he was able to outline the natural strides of the horse, but without using the artificial rules employed by earlier artists. Many horse paintings are anatomically incorrect, and show a horse's limbs in positions that real horses cannot achieve. Howe's work looks forward to the advent of freeze frame photography, such as the work of Edward Muybridge, which allowed artists to see the true movements of horses for the first time.This composition, Pony and Trap, reveals a lot about Howe's love of horses. The horse extends right across the page and is given plenty of space, while the carriage and the human figure seem to be crammed in to the right-hand edge of the drawing. The sketch displays a great amount of movement, and the strong curving line of the carriage arm merging in to the front leg of the horse pulls the eye firmly and gracefully from right to left.The sketch is extremely rapid in execution. No time has been spent on embellishment or decoration. The entire work has been quickly produced with the aim of describing the speed and grace of a horse. The arching, flexing lines display the animal's strength, and also display Howe's great understanding and respect of the horse. | |
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