Horses in Art Magazine - Art for the Horse Lover

Picturing the Past

by B.K. England

Horse Goddess Images Collected by B.K. England for incorporating into collages. To view more of B.K.'s images, collages and fine art, go to her web site: www.bkengland.arts.new.net
The two ladies who started it all could hardly be more different. They look out from vintage photographs, found in a California antique shop, almost thirty years ago. One is tall, elegant, in 1920s riding habit, complete with cloche framing her patrician features. Her mount is a sleek Saddlebred-type mare, in English tack. The other is a petite and jolly cowgirl, riding a magnificent Paint stallion. I fell in love with those old pictures, and they were the beginning of a treasured collection.

Old family albums yielded special images: my mother waves from the back of a sturdy little horse, about to head cross country, a daily trek to her first teaching job in eastern Washington. A long forgotten relative holds a steady farm horse only by the forelock, with two blonde children aboard. I know they have a story to tell, but no one has even written their names on the back of the photo. It's a lesson I won't soon forget.

The Golden Age of Postcards, 1901 to 1914, produced some of the most evocative images of women and horses. Dreamy-eyed belles in diaphanous clothing lounge on or beside milk-white steeds often in romantic studio settings. A few scantily-clad drama queens must have been the pin-up girls of their day. The horses are fascinating; many are Arabians or Thoroughbred types. I was thrilled to find one dated 1908 that is unmistakably a Haflinger, my favorite breed.

The collection grew rapidly. Soon there were also children and pony pictures, from early 1900s pony carts to that ubiquitous pinto Shetland who went from door to door allowing city children to have their pony dreams recorded in black and white.

A few gentlemen were allowed into the mix. A proof sheet from a century-old British horse show depicts handsome riders on six elegant mounts. A uniformed World War I soldier proudly perches bareback on a be-ribboned draft horse, dwarfed by the animal's huge size.

The pictures lend themselves beautifully to frame alone or create a collage. It is almost as much fun hunting for beautiful papers, ribbons and trims as it is to create the framed work of art. It's a wonderful way of sharing the lovely old images with others.

The ladies are my favorites. In addition to the glamour girls, there are farm girls with working horses, and polished equestriennes. Some ride sidesaddle, a few are circus performers, and many are at the lines of carts or carriages. They speak to me. They look out across the years, reins firmly in hand, to speak of the enduring, extraordinary bond between women and their horses.

~ Back ~