Horse and Riders
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Chinese art Yuan 18th century painting George III Manet Marc US painting < 1940 Paris Sport in art Origins of sports European ceramics
Chronology : 1-1000 1000-1400 18th century 1760-1769 1870-1879 1910 1912 1981
See also : Chinese art Yuan 18th century painting George III Manet Marc US painting < 1940 Paris Sport in art Origins of sports European ceramics
Chronology : 1-1000 1000-1400 18th century 1760-1769 1870-1879 1910 1912 1981
750 CE Horse by Han Gan
2017 SOLD for $ 17M by Christie's
Silk painting in ink and colors already existed under the Han, before the invention of paper. As early as 550 CE, an art critic defines six principles to be considered for appreciating a figurative work. The first principle is not derogable : the artist must transfer his energy into his art. It is also the basis of calligraphic art.
The Tang are great protectors of the arts. Narrative paintings feature groups in complex situations, with picturesque detail. The Taizong emperor also inaugurates the Tang's passion for the horse, that indispensable auxiliary of the warrior. He commissions the portraits of his favorite horses to Yan Liben.
The Tang imperial horses are the subject of a selection, integrating the best foreign breeds. The peak is reached during the reign of Xuanzong. His stable is reputed to house 40,000 horses, some of which are specially trained to dance in front of the emperor. Polo, hunting and jousting are practiced with passion. The main horse painter is Chen Hong.
Around 750 CE the self-taught artist Han Gan is noted for his artistic talents and invited to collaborate with Chen Hong. Han Gan abandons stylization for realism. The portrait of a horse, sometimes with a rider or a groom, becomes his exclusive theme. Each animal is observed individually.
On March 15, 2017, Christie's sold at lot 509 for $ 17M the image of a horse by Han Gan, 32 x 38 cm, very readable but heavily cracked. The animal with an elegant two-tone hair walks with a dignified slowness. The colophon of the Qianlong emperor includes no less than twelve imperial seal marks and the artwork is listed in the catalogue of his collection, the Shiqu Baoji.
Xuanzong's long reign is culturally splendid and politically catastrophic. The emperor had abandoned management to devote himself to pleasures. He was deposited in 756 CE after a short civil war. This date is probably the terminus ante quem for an original painting by Han Gan.
The Tang are great protectors of the arts. Narrative paintings feature groups in complex situations, with picturesque detail. The Taizong emperor also inaugurates the Tang's passion for the horse, that indispensable auxiliary of the warrior. He commissions the portraits of his favorite horses to Yan Liben.
The Tang imperial horses are the subject of a selection, integrating the best foreign breeds. The peak is reached during the reign of Xuanzong. His stable is reputed to house 40,000 horses, some of which are specially trained to dance in front of the emperor. Polo, hunting and jousting are practiced with passion. The main horse painter is Chen Hong.
Around 750 CE the self-taught artist Han Gan is noted for his artistic talents and invited to collaborate with Chen Hong. Han Gan abandons stylization for realism. The portrait of a horse, sometimes with a rider or a groom, becomes his exclusive theme. Each animal is observed individually.
On March 15, 2017, Christie's sold at lot 509 for $ 17M the image of a horse by Han Gan, 32 x 38 cm, very readable but heavily cracked. The animal with an elegant two-tone hair walks with a dignified slowness. The colophon of the Qianlong emperor includes no less than twelve imperial seal marks and the artwork is listed in the catalogue of his collection, the Shiqu Baoji.
Xuanzong's long reign is culturally splendid and politically catastrophic. The emperor had abandoned management to devote himself to pleasures. He was deposited in 756 CE after a short civil war. This date is probably the terminus ante quem for an original painting by Han Gan.
Five Drunken Kings Return on Horses by Ren Renfa
2016 SOLD for RMB 303M by Poly
A painting titled Five Drunken Kings Return on Horses was sold for HK $ 46.6M by Christie's on November 29, 2009, lot 815, for RMB 303M by Poly on December 4, 2016, lot 4050 and for HK $ 307M by Sotheby's on October 8, 2020, lot 2575. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
It is in a very good contrast in spite of its age and has been carefully analyzed. The paper is conformant to the Song patterns and is earlier than the Ming. The scroll includes ancient colophons as well as the seals of three Qing emperors.
There are nine characters overall in this hand scroll 2.10 m long and 35 cm high painted in ink and colors. The kings are riding in vacillating attitudes and four grooms attend to assure that their honorable masters will not fall.
The artist was named Ren Renfa and lived under the Yuan dynasty. He was following a tradition dating back to the Tang dynasty for pictures of horses of great beauty. The irreverent nature of the theme is a proof of wittiness rare in art history suggesting an artistic freedom at the time of the Mongolian rule.
Although his work is not uncommon, Ren Renfa was probably not a professional artist : he made his career as an imperial official in charge of the regulation of rivers.
According to the opinion of a Ming scholar official, the drunken characters are the five sons of a Tang emperor. The leading prince riding a magnificent black horse is the future emperor Xuanzong whose love of pleasures will much later trigger a civil war against his dynasty.
The procession of drunken princes by Ren displays revealing similarities in its composition with an elegant promenade of women painted two centuries earlier by the Song artist Li Longmian and preserved at the Taiwan Museum.
It is in a very good contrast in spite of its age and has been carefully analyzed. The paper is conformant to the Song patterns and is earlier than the Ming. The scroll includes ancient colophons as well as the seals of three Qing emperors.
There are nine characters overall in this hand scroll 2.10 m long and 35 cm high painted in ink and colors. The kings are riding in vacillating attitudes and four grooms attend to assure that their honorable masters will not fall.
The artist was named Ren Renfa and lived under the Yuan dynasty. He was following a tradition dating back to the Tang dynasty for pictures of horses of great beauty. The irreverent nature of the theme is a proof of wittiness rare in art history suggesting an artistic freedom at the time of the Mongolian rule.
Although his work is not uncommon, Ren Renfa was probably not a professional artist : he made his career as an imperial official in charge of the regulation of rivers.
According to the opinion of a Ming scholar official, the drunken characters are the five sons of a Tang emperor. The leading prince riding a magnificent black horse is the future emperor Xuanzong whose love of pleasures will much later trigger a civil war against his dynasty.
The procession of drunken princes by Ren displays revealing similarities in its composition with an elegant promenade of women painted two centuries earlier by the Song artist Li Longmian and preserved at the Taiwan Museum.
Explain the narrative trend for legends in the paintings and porcelains of the Yuan dynasty.
The handscroll Five Drunken Princes Returning from Court on Horseback (五王醉歸圖) by Ren Renfa (任仁發, 1255–1328), a leading painter-official of the Yuan dynasty, is one of the most celebrated narrative paintings of the period. Its two high-profile auction appearances (Poly Beijing, 4 December 2016, sold for RMB 303.6 million / US$44 million; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2020, sold for HK$306.5 million / US$39.5 million) underscore its status as a cultural treasure.
To understand the painting in the broader context of Yuan-dynasty narrative trends in both paintings and porcelains, especially concerning “legends,” we must look at what kinds of stories were popular and why.
1. The Story Depicted in Ren Renfa’s Painting
The painting illustrates a famous anecdote from the Cao-Wei period (Three Kingdoms era, 3rd century): the “Five Princes of Ye” — Cao Cao’s sons Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, Cao Zhang, Cao Zhi, and Cao Biao — returning drunk from a banquet given by their father. The most famous literary source is Cao Zhi’s poem 《名都篇》 (“Song of the Capital”), which contains the line “王子侯歸醉” (The princes and marquises return drunk). Although historically the event is tied to Cao Cao’s court at Ye, by the Song and Yuan periods it had become a legendary tale of fraternal camaraderie, literary talent (especially Cao Zhi’s genius), and aristocratic indulgence.
Ren Renfa transforms this into a humorous, almost satirical tableau: the five princes are so inebriated that they can barely stay on their horses, supported by grooms and attendants. The painting is both a virtuoso display of horse painting (Ren was famous for it) and a gentle parody of princely dignity.
2. Broader Narrative Trends in Yuan Painting and Porcelain Concerning Legends
During the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), under Mongol rule, Chinese scholars and artists often felt politically marginalized. This led to a pronounced interest in historical and legendary anecdotes that carried moral, escapist, or subtly political meanings.
A. In Painting (handscrolls and album leaves)
Popular legendary themes included:
B. In Porcelain (especially blue-and-white of the mid-14th century)
When blue-and-white porcelain exploded in sophistication under the late Yuan (especially 1330s–1360s, the “Tochto phase”), narrative scenes became extremely common on large jars, dishes, and flasks. The most frequently depicted legendary stories were:
3. Why Legends Flourished in Yuan Art
Ren Renfa’s Five Drunken Princes Returning on Horseback is a quintessential expression of Yuan narrative taste: a light-hearted, slightly ironic treatment of a famous pre-Song legend that celebrates literary culture and aristocratic excess while subtly reminding viewers of a lost era of Han Chinese dominance. This same fascination with historical and legendary anecdotes — whether filial, loyalist, romantic, or escapist — permeates both elite painting and the new medium of blue-and-white porcelain in the 14th century, making the Yuan one of the great ages of narrative visual storytelling in Chinese art history.
The handscroll Five Drunken Princes Returning from Court on Horseback (五王醉歸圖) by Ren Renfa (任仁發, 1255–1328), a leading painter-official of the Yuan dynasty, is one of the most celebrated narrative paintings of the period. Its two high-profile auction appearances (Poly Beijing, 4 December 2016, sold for RMB 303.6 million / US$44 million; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2020, sold for HK$306.5 million / US$39.5 million) underscore its status as a cultural treasure.
To understand the painting in the broader context of Yuan-dynasty narrative trends in both paintings and porcelains, especially concerning “legends,” we must look at what kinds of stories were popular and why.
1. The Story Depicted in Ren Renfa’s Painting
The painting illustrates a famous anecdote from the Cao-Wei period (Three Kingdoms era, 3rd century): the “Five Princes of Ye” — Cao Cao’s sons Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, Cao Zhang, Cao Zhi, and Cao Biao — returning drunk from a banquet given by their father. The most famous literary source is Cao Zhi’s poem 《名都篇》 (“Song of the Capital”), which contains the line “王子侯歸醉” (The princes and marquises return drunk). Although historically the event is tied to Cao Cao’s court at Ye, by the Song and Yuan periods it had become a legendary tale of fraternal camaraderie, literary talent (especially Cao Zhi’s genius), and aristocratic indulgence.
Ren Renfa transforms this into a humorous, almost satirical tableau: the five princes are so inebriated that they can barely stay on their horses, supported by grooms and attendants. The painting is both a virtuoso display of horse painting (Ren was famous for it) and a gentle parody of princely dignity.
2. Broader Narrative Trends in Yuan Painting and Porcelain Concerning Legends
During the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), under Mongol rule, Chinese scholars and artists often felt politically marginalized. This led to a pronounced interest in historical and legendary anecdotes that carried moral, escapist, or subtly political meanings.
A. In Painting (handscrolls and album leaves)
Popular legendary themes included:
- Filial piety legends (Twenty-four Filial Exemplars stories, such as Guo Ju burying his son, or Wang Xiang lying on ice)
- Recluse and immortality legends (the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, the Four Greybeards of Mount Shang, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Liezi)
- Loyalty and righteous knight-errant tales (Jing Ke’s attempted assassination of Qin Shi Huang, Zhuge Liang legends)
- Romantic and tragic love legends (Xiao and Qing — the “White Snake” story begins to appear, Butterfly Lovers)
- Literati indulgence legends (the Five Drunken Princes, Ruan Ji’s “drunkenness” from the Bamboo Grove, Li Bai’s drunken poetry)
B. In Porcelain (especially blue-and-white of the mid-14th century)
When blue-and-white porcelain exploded in sophistication under the late Yuan (especially 1330s–1360s, the “Tochto phase”), narrative scenes became extremely common on large jars, dishes, and flasks. The most frequently depicted legendary stories were:
- The Ghost of Zhong Kui hunting demons (very common — protective meaning)
- Wang Xizhi Observing Geese (literati elegance)
- Su Wu herding sheep (loyalty to Han dynasty while captive among the Xiongnu — highly resonant under Mongol rule by “northern barbarians”)
- Guo Ziyi’s success and wealth (filial piety and loyalty rewarded)
- The Four Loves (Zhou Dunyi loving lotus, Tao Yuanming loving chrysanthemums, Lin Hejing loving cranes and plum blossoms)
- Knife-horse figures (xiao yong (brave generals from Three Kingdoms or Tang, such as Zhao Yun or Xue Rengui)
- Immortals and Daoist paradises (Eight Immortals, Queen Mother of the West)
3. Why Legends Flourished in Yuan Art
- Political alienation: Han Chinese literati could not openly criticize Mongol rule, so they turned to historical allegory and historical legends (loyalty to Han in Su Wu, resistance in Jing Ke).
- Escapism and humor: Drunkenness, reclusion, and immortality offered psychological escape (Ren Renfa’s humorous take on the princes fits perfectly).
- Commercial and export demand: By the late Yuan, blue-and-white porcelain was being made partly for Middle-Eastern and Southeast-Asian markets, which loved narrative scenes with moral or magical content.
- Technical advances: The development of large handscroll format and underglaze cobalt painting allowed complex multi-figure stories to be rendered with unprecedented detail.
Ren Renfa’s Five Drunken Princes Returning on Horseback is a quintessential expression of Yuan narrative taste: a light-hearted, slightly ironic treatment of a famous pre-Song legend that celebrates literary culture and aristocratic excess while subtly reminding viewers of a lost era of Han Chinese dominance. This same fascination with historical and legendary anecdotes — whether filial, loyalist, romantic, or escapist — permeates both elite painting and the new medium of blue-and-white porcelain in the 14th century, making the Yuan one of the great ages of narrative visual storytelling in Chinese art history.
STUBBS
1
1765 Gimcrack
2011 SOLD for £ 22.4M by Christie's
Serving wealthy English aristocrats, George Stubbs specialized in the topic of race horses. On December 8, 2010, Sotheby's sold £ 10.1M a very elegant study of mares and foals in a meadow, painted in 1767.
A horse named Gimcrack was winning most of the races where he was engaged. His portrait was sold for £ 22.4M by Christie's on July 5, 2011, lot 12.
Made around 1765, this broad composition, oil on canvas 102 x 196 cm, simple and effective, is divided into two parts. On the left, Gimcrack shows his beautiful profile, surrounded by a coach, a stable boy and a jockey.
A race is held on the horizon, on the right. A horse is far ahead of his three followers. He is also Gimcrack, of course. He is therefore shown twice on that image that had everything to flatter the sponsor of the work, Lord Bolingbroke, owner of the champion.
Stubbs is very accurate in anatomical detail, but still shows horses galloping with their four legs flying above the ground. This feature, which can be excused one century before the studies of Muybridge, applies here only in the background and provides this work with an undeniable poetic dimension.
A horse named Gimcrack was winning most of the races where he was engaged. His portrait was sold for £ 22.4M by Christie's on July 5, 2011, lot 12.
Made around 1765, this broad composition, oil on canvas 102 x 196 cm, simple and effective, is divided into two parts. On the left, Gimcrack shows his beautiful profile, surrounded by a coach, a stable boy and a jockey.
A race is held on the horizon, on the right. A horse is far ahead of his three followers. He is also Gimcrack, of course. He is therefore shown twice on that image that had everything to flatter the sponsor of the work, Lord Bolingbroke, owner of the champion.
Stubbs is very accurate in anatomical detail, but still shows horses galloping with their four legs flying above the ground. This feature, which can be excused one century before the studies of Muybridge, applies here only in the background and provides this work with an undeniable poetic dimension.
Significance in the artist's career and in horse racing history.
The Painting
George Stubbs' "Gimcrack with John Pratt Up on Newmarket Heath" (oil on canvas, 1765) is one of the most iconic images in British sporting art. It depicts the celebrated racehorse Gimcrack, a small grey colt, with his jockey John Pratt in the colors of his owner, the 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke. In the background Stubbs included a famous “rubbing-down house” (a shelter where horses were cooled off after exercise) on Newmarket Heath, giving the picture a strong sense of place.
The painting was commissioned by Gimcrack’s first important owner, Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, and remained in the family until it was sold at Christie’s London on 5 July 2011 for £22,441,250 (approximately $36 million at the time), still the world-record auction price for a British sporting painting and for any work by George Stubbs.
Significance in George Stubbs’ Career
Gimcrack (foaled 1760) was one of the most famous racehorses of the 18th century despite being unusually small (barely 14.1 hands):
When the painting appeared at Christie’s in 2011 after almost 250 years in the same family (Woolavington Collection), it caused a sensation:
The Painting
George Stubbs' "Gimcrack with John Pratt Up on Newmarket Heath" (oil on canvas, 1765) is one of the most iconic images in British sporting art. It depicts the celebrated racehorse Gimcrack, a small grey colt, with his jockey John Pratt in the colors of his owner, the 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke. In the background Stubbs included a famous “rubbing-down house” (a shelter where horses were cooled off after exercise) on Newmarket Heath, giving the picture a strong sense of place.
The painting was commissioned by Gimcrack’s first important owner, Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, and remained in the family until it was sold at Christie’s London on 5 July 2011 for £22,441,250 (approximately $36 million at the time), still the world-record auction price for a British sporting painting and for any work by George Stubbs.
Significance in George Stubbs’ Career
- This is arguably Stubbs’ most famous single horse portrait and the one that cemented his reputation as the greatest painter of racehorses in history.
- Painted in 1765, it came at the absolute peak of Stubbs’ powers, shortly after the publication of his revolutionary book The Anatomy of the Horse (1766), which had established him as both an artist and a serious equine anatomist.
- The picture shows Stubbs’ mature style in full: astonishingly accurate anatomy combined with luminous atmospheric effects, subtle greys and silvers in the horse’s coat, and a low horizon that makes the horse appear heroic against the vast Suffolk sky.
- It was one of the first paintings in which Stubbs placed a named, contemporary Thoroughbred in a specific landscape setting rather than the more generic parkland backgrounds of earlier portraits. This innovation became his signature format and influenced generations of sporting artists.
- Gimcrack was exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1766 (one of only three paintings Stubbs ever exhibited in his lifetime), bringing him enormous publicity at exactly the moment he was establishing his independent studio in London.
Gimcrack (foaled 1760) was one of the most famous racehorses of the 18th century despite being unusually small (barely 14.1 hands):
- He raced an extraordinary 36 times between 1764 and 1771 and won 27 of those races (a remarkable record for the era of long-distance heat racing).
- His most celebrated victory was beating the previously unbeaten Pontac over four-mile heats at Newmarket in 1765 — the year Stubbs painted him.
- In 1768 he was sold to the Comte de Lauraguais and exported to France, where he won several races and became the first British horse to race successfully on the Continent, helping spread the fashion for English Thoroughbreds in Europe.
- After retirement he stood as a stallion in England again and sired a number of good runners, though he is more important historically than as a sire.
- Gimcrack’s fame was such that the Gimcrack Stakes (now a prestigious Group 2 race for two-year-olds at York) has been named after him since 1846, and the Gimcrack Dinner, one of the most important social events in British racing, is still held annually by the York Gimcrack Club.
When the painting appeared at Christie’s in 2011 after almost 250 years in the same family (Woolavington Collection), it caused a sensation:
- It shattered the previous record for Stubbs (£10.1 million for “Broodmares and Foals” in 1996).
- It remains the most expensive sporting picture and the most expensive Old Master painting ever sold at auction in London.
- It was bought by an anonymous bidder (later revealed to be the British art dealer Simon Dickinson acting for a private collector) and is now on long-term loan to the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket, where it can be seen by the public.
#GeorgeStubbs was born #OTD in 1724. We sold Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath in 2011 for £22,441,250 #WorldAuctionRecord #artistbirthday pic.twitter.com/B7fCB2eivD
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) August 25, 2017
2
1768 Mares and Foals in a Landscape
2010 SOLD for £ 10.1M by Sotheby's
A contemporary to Gainsborough, George Stubbs painted race horses in pastoral landscapes, starting from a commission ca 1762 for Lord Bolingbroke. This theme evoking breeding and sport altogether was much appealing to the British Lords from the Whig circle who were operating the Jockey Club since 1750.
An oil on canvas 100 x 187 cm painted in 1768 was kept by the same family of Lords since the origin and had been shown to the public in 2004 in the exhibition Stubbs and the Horse at the National Gallery.
The animals in a group of two mares and three foals are elegant and finely detailed. Nevertheless the conversation is artificial between the leading light grey Arabian mare and a slender legged standing colt, with a torsion of the elongated neck of the young. They are displayed free without enclosure or saddle or human helper.
In flawless condition, it was sold for £ 10.1M by Sotheby's on December 8, 2010, lot 45.
An example repeating the same group in the same positions and attitudes was executed by Stubbs ca 1769. This monumental oil on canvas 185 x 274 cm has a larger scale than the 1767 example. The composition is better balanced with a less extended landscape. Its first owner has probably been the then prime minister Lord Grafton. It passed at Christie's on July 2, 2024, lot 21.
An oil on canvas 100 x 187 cm painted in 1768 was kept by the same family of Lords since the origin and had been shown to the public in 2004 in the exhibition Stubbs and the Horse at the National Gallery.
The animals in a group of two mares and three foals are elegant and finely detailed. Nevertheless the conversation is artificial between the leading light grey Arabian mare and a slender legged standing colt, with a torsion of the elongated neck of the young. They are displayed free without enclosure or saddle or human helper.
In flawless condition, it was sold for £ 10.1M by Sotheby's on December 8, 2010, lot 45.
An example repeating the same group in the same positions and attitudes was executed by Stubbs ca 1769. This monumental oil on canvas 185 x 274 cm has a larger scale than the 1767 example. The composition is better balanced with a less extended landscape. Its first owner has probably been the then prime minister Lord Grafton. It passed at Christie's on July 2, 2024, lot 21.
1872 Les Courses au Bois de Boulogne by Manet
2004 SOLD for $ 26.3M by Sotheby's
Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas have masterfully shaken up the classicism. Building on their predecessors, they find new ideas for staging and colors.
Manet easily entered into artist circles. He enjoys social life and does not wait for the recognition of the Salons. His themes are unlimited. Before him, Courbet went already complacently up to the scandal. Baudelaire and then Zola recognize the originality of his approach.
On May 5, 2004, Sotheby's sold for $ 26.3M Les Courses au Bois de Boulogne, oil on canvas 73 x 94 cm painted in 1872 by Manet, lot 13, from the collection of one of the most famous owners of racehorses, John Hay Whitney. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The artist skillfully mixed observation and imitation. It seems that the topography of the Longchamp racecourse was painted on the spot.
Manet had demonstrated a few years earlier in his first bullfighting scenes that a direct participation in the event was not essential, since he could rely on Goya. Here the horses in full gallop all fly with their four legs lifted, as in the Epsom Derby painted by Géricault in 1821, acquired by the Louvre in 1866. The imperturbable position of the jockeys in full race is not realistic : the sporting effort was obviously not appreciated by Manet.
Manet's painting is however very modern. The track and the lawn are aquamarine blue, highlighting the contrasts in a freedom of colors that anticipates expressionism for several decades. The distance of the subjects is marked by an increasing blur, as if it were a photograph focused on the action in progress in the foreground. This artifice provides the whole composition with an effect of depth, different from the solutions sought by his impressionist friends.
Manet easily entered into artist circles. He enjoys social life and does not wait for the recognition of the Salons. His themes are unlimited. Before him, Courbet went already complacently up to the scandal. Baudelaire and then Zola recognize the originality of his approach.
On May 5, 2004, Sotheby's sold for $ 26.3M Les Courses au Bois de Boulogne, oil on canvas 73 x 94 cm painted in 1872 by Manet, lot 13, from the collection of one of the most famous owners of racehorses, John Hay Whitney. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The artist skillfully mixed observation and imitation. It seems that the topography of the Longchamp racecourse was painted on the spot.
Manet had demonstrated a few years earlier in his first bullfighting scenes that a direct participation in the event was not essential, since he could rely on Goya. Here the horses in full gallop all fly with their four legs lifted, as in the Epsom Derby painted by Géricault in 1821, acquired by the Louvre in 1866. The imperturbable position of the jockeys in full race is not realistic : the sporting effort was obviously not appreciated by Manet.
Manet's painting is however very modern. The track and the lawn are aquamarine blue, highlighting the contrasts in a freedom of colors that anticipates expressionism for several decades. The distance of the subjects is marked by an increasing blur, as if it were a photograph focused on the action in progress in the foreground. This artifice provides the whole composition with an effect of depth, different from the solutions sought by his impressionist friends.
1910 Polo Crowd by Bellows
1999 SOLD for $ 27.5 M by Sotheby's
Crowds in New York are one of the favorite themes with which Georges Bellows shows enthusiasm, movement, play. In 1909 he adds sport. His boxing paintings show the action in progress, in a close-up snapshot that photography was only just beginning to be able to provide. The expressive style of the young artist marks his refusal of classicism.
Polo Crowd, oil on canvas 115 x 160 cm painted in 1910, confronts sport and its spectators. The game is on, including a prancing horse. The crowd, barely contained by light barriers, is made up of well-differentiated characters, as in real life. In a very dynamic contrast, peoples and horses appear bright against a very dark sky.
Bequeathed in 1998 by the Whitney estate to the Museum of Modern Art, Polo Crowd was sold by Sotheby's on December 1, 1999 for $ 27.5M from a lower estimate of $ 10M. It was purchased at that sale by Bill Gates who was to hang it in the lobby of his personal library. The image is shared by Artnet.
Polo Crowd, oil on canvas 115 x 160 cm painted in 1910, confronts sport and its spectators. The game is on, including a prancing horse. The crowd, barely contained by light barriers, is made up of well-differentiated characters, as in real life. In a very dynamic contrast, peoples and horses appear bright against a very dark sky.
Bequeathed in 1998 by the Whitney estate to the Museum of Modern Art, Polo Crowd was sold by Sotheby's on December 1, 1999 for $ 27.5M from a lower estimate of $ 10M. It was purchased at that sale by Bill Gates who was to hang it in the lobby of his personal library. The image is shared by Artnet.
MARC
Intro
Franz Marc was convinced that beauty is not a characteristic of man but of nature. Illustrator of animals and landscapes, he was then influenced by the expressive lines of van Gogh and by the pure colors of Gauguin. Marc attributes to his animals symbolic colors devoid of any realism unlike his own landscapes and the Fauvist practice of excessive color. His first major composition of horses dates from 1908.
The meeting of Kandinsky and Marc in September 1910 is highly important for modern art. The quest for a new symbolism by Marc influenced the hermetic researches of Kandinsky. Marc's ambition in modern art was to get rid of ancient culture including religion, monarchy, privileges and humanism.
Marc tries in his turn to codify his own colors for exacerbating the feelings. He uses Fauvist colors with a symbolist code of his invention : blue for the authoritarian male and yellow for the sweet female when they are peaceful, and dark red to express an antithesis that breaks the harmony of nature, for example revolt and violence.
Their movement is identified from late 1911 as the Blaue Reiter, a striking image that symbolizes in two words the new art better than the complex theories of Kandinsky could have done.
Franz Marc also rejects the modern life which is dominated by the machine. He seeks truth in Nature. His work displays a great diversity of animals, whose symbiosis with nature is a support for a harmony of forms.
The horse occupies the best place in Marc's art. The natural attitude of this animal is varied but always elegant. A group of horses is the pretext for building a perfect balance. With an image brought by Kandinsky, the horse becomes a powerful symbol of modern art when the two artists create the Der Blaue Reiter movement in 1911.
Grosse Landschaft I (large landscape I) shows a group of mares. This oil on burlap 110 x 212 cm painted in 1909 passed at Sotheby's on February 3, 2016, lot 6. The main theme of this artwork is not indeed the landscape, a very ordinary meadow, but the group of four horses in attentive attitudes, all in the same color between orange and light red.
The meeting of Kandinsky and Marc in September 1910 is highly important for modern art. The quest for a new symbolism by Marc influenced the hermetic researches of Kandinsky. Marc's ambition in modern art was to get rid of ancient culture including religion, monarchy, privileges and humanism.
Marc tries in his turn to codify his own colors for exacerbating the feelings. He uses Fauvist colors with a symbolist code of his invention : blue for the authoritarian male and yellow for the sweet female when they are peaceful, and dark red to express an antithesis that breaks the harmony of nature, for example revolt and violence.
Their movement is identified from late 1911 as the Blaue Reiter, a striking image that symbolizes in two words the new art better than the complex theories of Kandinsky could have done.
Franz Marc also rejects the modern life which is dominated by the machine. He seeks truth in Nature. His work displays a great diversity of animals, whose symbiosis with nature is a support for a harmony of forms.
The horse occupies the best place in Marc's art. The natural attitude of this animal is varied but always elegant. A group of horses is the pretext for building a perfect balance. With an image brought by Kandinsky, the horse becomes a powerful symbol of modern art when the two artists create the Der Blaue Reiter movement in 1911.
Grosse Landschaft I (large landscape I) shows a group of mares. This oil on burlap 110 x 212 cm painted in 1909 passed at Sotheby's on February 3, 2016, lot 6. The main theme of this artwork is not indeed the landscape, a very ordinary meadow, but the group of four horses in attentive attitudes, all in the same color between orange and light red.
1
1910 Weidende Pferde
2008 SOLD for £ 12.3M by Sotheby's
In the spring and summer of 1910 the 30 years old artist Franz Marc was acquainted with the work of the Fauvistes and of Signac, Hodler and Gauguin through exhibitions in Berlin and Munich.
In a first version of Weidende Pferde, executed in the summer of 1910, he explores the use of individual brush strokes of pure color set next to one another on a white ground.
Weidende Pferde III (grazing horses III) stages four fiery males, each one in another attitude. The coats are red but manes and tails are blue. This oil on canvas 61 x 92 cm painted in 1910 was sold for £ 12.3M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2008 from a lower estimate of £ 6M, lot 13. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
In that experimental phase Franz Marc also makes his hand with Signac's pointillism in two oils on canvas on animal themes.
One of them, displaying flamingoes, was destroyed during the Second World War.
The other example, Springende Pferde, matches Marc's signature quest of interpreting the mood of three horses with no rider. Their competing leaps over hurdles are deliberately joyful. This oil on canvas 150 x 160 cm painted in the autumn of 1910 was sold for £ 3.74M by Christie's on June 23, 2009, lot 11.
In a first version of Weidende Pferde, executed in the summer of 1910, he explores the use of individual brush strokes of pure color set next to one another on a white ground.
Weidende Pferde III (grazing horses III) stages four fiery males, each one in another attitude. The coats are red but manes and tails are blue. This oil on canvas 61 x 92 cm painted in 1910 was sold for £ 12.3M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2008 from a lower estimate of £ 6M, lot 13. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
In that experimental phase Franz Marc also makes his hand with Signac's pointillism in two oils on canvas on animal themes.
One of them, displaying flamingoes, was destroyed during the Second World War.
The other example, Springende Pferde, matches Marc's signature quest of interpreting the mood of three horses with no rider. Their competing leaps over hurdles are deliberately joyful. This oil on canvas 150 x 160 cm painted in the autumn of 1910 was sold for £ 3.74M by Christie's on June 23, 2009, lot 11.
2
1912 Drei Pferde
2018 SOLD for £ 15.4M by Christie's
Art on paper or cardboard allows a great vividness of colors. Drei Pferde (three horses), gouache on card 34 x 48 cm executed in 1912 by Franz Marc, was sold for £ 15.4M by Christie's on June 20, 2018 from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M, lot 14 B. Horses have a realistic shape but are surrounded by a cubist landscape.
Made in the same year, Zwei Blaue Esel (two blue donkeys), gouache on paper 35 x 28 cm, was sold for £ 4.1M by Sotheby's on February 4, 2020, lot 7.
Made in the same year, Zwei Blaue Esel (two blue donkeys), gouache on paper 35 x 28 cm, was sold for £ 4.1M by Sotheby's on February 4, 2020, lot 7.
#AuctionUpdate ‘Drei Pferde’ by #FranzMarc achieves £15,421,250, more than 4 x the high estimate, making a new #WorldAuctionRecord for the artist. pic.twitter.com/Zk9zGc2j8G
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) June 20, 2018
1932 Wheels by Yun Gee
2017 SOLD for HK$ 105M by Sotheby's
At the turn of the 1930s the big event in Manhattan was the construction of the Chrysler Building and of the Empire State Building which forever changed the look and feel of New York City and triggered the development of a new art.
Created in 1929 by Mrs Rockefeller and two of her friends, the Museum Of Modern Art has a difficult start due to local reluctance to changes. Moving to more spacious premises the MoMA plans a new inauguration in May 1932 with an exhibition titled Murals promoting American painters and photographers.
Six weeks before the great re-opening each invited artist is required to create a large size painting and a triptych. The Chinese-born American Yun Gee aged 26 is the youngest of the selected artists.
It was a good choice : painter, musician and dancer, Yun Gee had been in contact with the avant-gardes, first in the Chinatown of San Francisco and then in Paris before he settled in New York in 1930. Taking advantage of this multiple culture he sought to develop a total art mixing expressive colors and movement and embracing past and future to define the new life.
The triptych made for the MoMA was sold for HK $ 10.8M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2014.
The masterpiece of Yun Gee is his other work for the MoMA, oil on canvas 214 x 122 cm titled Wheels: Industrial New York. Wheels means the circles of human activities turning into vertigo under the skyscrapers.
Yun Gee's surrealist synthesis of the avant-gardes around his belief in progress makes Wheels a tour de force. The abundance of the activities is displayed in an expressionist style, the shaking of the perspectives is cubist, the circular merry go round of the polo team in the foreground is futurist, the warm colors are fauvist under a haunting sun and the theme is by itself constructivist.
Kept until now in the artist's family, Wheels: Industrial New York was sold for HK $ 105M from a lower estimate of HK $ 80M by Sotheby's on September 30, 2017, lot 1017. Please watch the video shared by the auction house in which the CG technology promoted by Sotheby's for new visual effects highlights the expression of movement in the composition.
Created in 1929 by Mrs Rockefeller and two of her friends, the Museum Of Modern Art has a difficult start due to local reluctance to changes. Moving to more spacious premises the MoMA plans a new inauguration in May 1932 with an exhibition titled Murals promoting American painters and photographers.
Six weeks before the great re-opening each invited artist is required to create a large size painting and a triptych. The Chinese-born American Yun Gee aged 26 is the youngest of the selected artists.
It was a good choice : painter, musician and dancer, Yun Gee had been in contact with the avant-gardes, first in the Chinatown of San Francisco and then in Paris before he settled in New York in 1930. Taking advantage of this multiple culture he sought to develop a total art mixing expressive colors and movement and embracing past and future to define the new life.
The triptych made for the MoMA was sold for HK $ 10.8M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2014.
The masterpiece of Yun Gee is his other work for the MoMA, oil on canvas 214 x 122 cm titled Wheels: Industrial New York. Wheels means the circles of human activities turning into vertigo under the skyscrapers.
Yun Gee's surrealist synthesis of the avant-gardes around his belief in progress makes Wheels a tour de force. The abundance of the activities is displayed in an expressionist style, the shaking of the perspectives is cubist, the circular merry go round of the polo team in the foreground is futurist, the warm colors are fauvist under a haunting sun and the theme is by itself constructivist.
Kept until now in the artist's family, Wheels: Industrial New York was sold for HK $ 105M from a lower estimate of HK $ 80M by Sotheby's on September 30, 2017, lot 1017. Please watch the video shared by the auction house in which the CG technology promoted by Sotheby's for new visual effects highlights the expression of movement in the composition.
1981 Horseback Wrestling by Huang Zhou
2013 SOLD for RMB 130M by Poly
Huang Zhou liked to express vitality and enthusiasm in his animal studies. Banished during the Cultural Revolution, he actively contributed to the artistic reconstruction and prepared works for diplomatic receptions.
A group of riders in an open field, including in the foreground a woman taming a prancing horse, 205 x 140 cm painted in 1972, was sold for RMB 60M by China Guardian on May 22, 2011, lot 1176.
In 1979, on an official visit to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, he was fascinated by traditional customs. In the meadow, at an altitude of 3000 m, the Kirghiz wrestle on horseback between two teams which are distinguished from each other by the color of the embroidery. This sport is also played by women.
The artist is sick. In 1981, with a delay of two years due to a general paralysis, he paints in ink and colors two works on the theme of Kirghiz wrestling, under the title Jubilant Grassland. One of them is hung in the guesthouse for foreign heads of state.
The other, 142 x 360 cm, was used in 1984 as a diplomatic gift for Armand Hammer. The artist had used vegetable pigments and mineral repaints are done to improve stability before the artwork is presented to the "red magnate" visiting Beijing.
Jubilant Grassland, arguably the artist's masterpiece, features two women's teams, for a total of 7 riders, 9 sheepdogs and 80 horses including a large unsaddled group in middle ground. This artwork was sold for RMB 130M by Poly in cooperation with the Huang Zhou Art Foundation on December 2, 2013, lot 1921. It is illustrated in the post sale report by ChinaDaily.
A group of riders in an open field, including in the foreground a woman taming a prancing horse, 205 x 140 cm painted in 1972, was sold for RMB 60M by China Guardian on May 22, 2011, lot 1176.
In 1979, on an official visit to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, he was fascinated by traditional customs. In the meadow, at an altitude of 3000 m, the Kirghiz wrestle on horseback between two teams which are distinguished from each other by the color of the embroidery. This sport is also played by women.
The artist is sick. In 1981, with a delay of two years due to a general paralysis, he paints in ink and colors two works on the theme of Kirghiz wrestling, under the title Jubilant Grassland. One of them is hung in the guesthouse for foreign heads of state.
The other, 142 x 360 cm, was used in 1984 as a diplomatic gift for Armand Hammer. The artist had used vegetable pigments and mineral repaints are done to improve stability before the artwork is presented to the "red magnate" visiting Beijing.
Jubilant Grassland, arguably the artist's masterpiece, features two women's teams, for a total of 7 riders, 9 sheepdogs and 80 horses including a large unsaddled group in middle ground. This artwork was sold for RMB 130M by Poly in cooperation with the Huang Zhou Art Foundation on December 2, 2013, lot 1921. It is illustrated in the post sale report by ChinaDaily.
