What a gorgeous (and terribly heavy) book! It’s one of those oversized “coffee table” books. Found browsing at the library, sat down to look through while my kid was busy, and then decided to bring it home to finish reading. There is some text, both about the artist’s work, his vision and intentions, some of the technicalities on how he made the photographs, and interesting details on the history or current utilisation of certain horse breeds. A lot of the particulars about the individual photos are listed in the back, so you are wholly absorbed with just looking when going through the main pages.
What a feast for the eyes. The first section has beautifully abstract images, that don’t show the entire horse but just a curve of neck, shine of flank, beautiful flowing hair, the sculptural aspect of the muscles. It’s really something else. Second section depicts horses in their landscapes- Prezwalski on the steppes, Icelandic horses running along icy shorelines (how sharply I recalled the description of the fast paced tolt gait, in A Good Horse Has No Color), Norwegian Fjords in deep snow, Shetland ponies all wet and muddy looking cold but perfectly calm, Haflingers golden against stunning mountain vistas, a very stocky, glowing Suffolk Punch standing square on a flat yard, a group of shaggy poitou donkeys- looking like sculptures-, mustangs running through clouds of dust, Arabians poised and appearing too perfect to be real. One breed I had never heard of: the Marwari from India, which has curly ears!
Then there’s images of horses in a setting of human influence. Wearing leg wraps and specific head coverings as protection or to treat with something: ten images of different masks and headgear- from riot protection to chloroform and nebulizer administration, to mixed medieval armor. There’s images of the skeleton, and some ethereal, fascinating ones of embryos at different stages. Images of different equine crosses- not just mules but zebra/donkey and zebra/horse hybrids, and the extinct quagga. Warning for some disturbing images- a horse with an eye surgically removed (this one didn’t bother me), closeup of flies on a manure pile- it’s a vivid pattern of iridescent wings- and another more unsettling one of a mare’s placenta, all pink veins in clear detail. That one sure took me by surprise when I turned the page.
But mostly it’s beautiful pictures of horses, and some so intriguingly different you see the animal in a new way. Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 4/25/24.
