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Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Horan Figure of the Week: "The Souvenir, 1778"
This weeks piece is probably the most playful piece ever done by Horan. It is a light hearted and humerous scene, which differs from his normal body of work. It almost has a touch of a Norman Rockwell painting with the dynamic and somewhat humerous body language.
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4 comments:
I have always found this a disturbing piece.
Here we have an elite grenadier being chased down by a ruffian with a drawn sword.
To me, it shows the reality of being a prisoner-of-war.
Interesting interpretation! When you put it like that perhaps it is not so light hearted :). It is always fun to hear other's takes on certain pieces as we all percieve them in a different way. Thanks for sharing!
I love it!Elite grenadier(?)chased by a ruffian you say?The interest in the flamboyant dress and weapons of our enemy lasted for almost 200 years.My uncle,Big Red One, sent home 2 german helmets and a sheepskin coat and 2 years later found my great grandma had 2 new steel flower pots and some winter slippers instead.
It's a fabulous piece of work, which works on quite a few different levels. The concept of an armed citizen chasing away a professional soldier kind of encapsulates one of the aspects that has ever since defined the American War of Independence. This was to become more or less the spirit of the age across the seas, too. If you consider the citizen armies of revolutionary France who not only repulsed the counter revolutionary forces of the crowned heads of Europe that surrounded them but ended up dominating Europe under Napoleon Bonaparte. As with any initially positive urge throughout history to make society a fairer and better place things often go wrong and the oppressed end up being the oppressor. Sorry, soapbox over - but a really inspiring piece of work.
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