Cheval s'enlevant sur l'obstacle

Degas took up sculptural modeling as a complement to painting in the late 1860s, around the same time that he began to frequent racetracks. Wanting to capture the essence of the races, he made sketches and notes which allowed him to elaborately capture the atmosphere and various phases of these events when he returned to his studio: the speed and complicity of horse and jockey against the backdrop of bustling crowds at Longchamp. With the aid of these notes, he also sought to capture the dexterity of the gracious animal three-dimensionally: “Fascinated by the fiery elegance of horses, Degas did all he could to preserve in wax their nervous agitation, their gracious pride. Little by little, he attempted poses that were more and more taken in full movement” (J. Rewald, op.cit, 1990, p. 15). A decade later, in 1878, the photographer Eadweard Muybridge toured Europe with a projected sequence titled Abe Edgington, which showed a horse trotting over the Palo Alto Track, revealing for the first time that there is a moment when all four hooves of a trotting horse leave the ground at once. Degas saw the sequence and also made sketches of these serial images, as they reframed the way artist had depicted running horses for generations, never entirely off the ground. Muybridge procured him with the mechanics of the body in movement which fascinated him equally in ballerinas and laundresses as it did in this regal animal.
Of all the horses, Cheval s'enlevant sur l'obstacle may be the most sophisticated. Related to a pose seen in Muybridge’s photographs, it combines forward, backward, rising and twisting motions all at once: the horse slightly tilts its head to the right while propelling itself forward with its forelegs, and gathering momentum downwards with the hindlegs. It has an unparalleled equilibrium and liveliness – the moment right before the action. Degas’ quality as a sculptor is palpable through this balance in space, but also through the fine accents he chooses to accentuate on the horse’s body: the line along his neck, exaggerated curve of its hip and erect tail all revealing its elegant power.
The present work was in the collection of the Baron and Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza prior to being acquired by its current owner a quarter of a century ago.