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Two Horses

Artist/Maker (Italian, born in Greece, 1888–1978)
Dateearly 1930s
MediumGouache on watercolor paper
DimensionsOverall: 10 5/8 × 14 in. (27 × 35.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. George Oenslager in honor of Jacob F. Alderfer
Object number1981.16
Status
Not on view
Copyright© Giorgio de Chirico Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, RomeMore Information
De Chirico, the originator of metaphysical painting, created this drawing during a period of transition in his career. Prior to the 1930s, his work paved the way for Surrealism. He explored themes such as nostalgia, enigma, and myth through disjointed spaces. After that decade, he turned to more conservative subjects, studying and copying the old masters and cultivating a neo-baroque style. This work, depicting two statue-like, rearing horses, is part of that transition. De Chirico's drawings and paintings of horses were very successful commercially, thus he drew and painted them prolifically throughout this period. Some dream-like qualities remain in this work: expansive space, disjointed perspective and scale, and the seeming plasticity of the stone ruins.
Exhibition History
The Body and Other 20th-Century Metaphors
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (November 15, 1991 - January 12, 1992 )
Out of Line: Drawings from the Allen from the Twentieth Century and Beyond
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 1, 2009 - December 23, 2009 )
Modern and Contemporary Realisms
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (August 6, 2013 - June 22, 2014 )
Collections
  • Modern & Contemporary