Artwork Page for Horse and Rider

Details / Information for Horse and Rider

Horse and Rider

c. 1890

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
black chalk
Support
Cream laid paper
Measurements
Sheet: 29.5 x 24.3 cm (11 5/8 x 9 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2009.123
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Degas’s drawing Gentleman Rider alludes to the steeplechase, a fashionable race in which the riders were not professional jockeys but, instead, “gentlemen.” Here, Degas demonstrated his unceasing interest in the horse’s anatomy in motion, playfully revising the position of the animal’s hind legs, as he would a dancer’s. The top-hatted rider remains a ghostly shadow—it is clearly the horse rather than its rider who captured the artist’s imagination.
A vertically oriented black chalk drawing on beige paper depicts a man in a top hat riding a horse. Thick, dark strokes contrast with the paper to define the horse's frame, while the rider is rendered in light, sketchy outlines. The horse turns its head toward us, its legs and body heavily shaded compared to the rider's faint contour. In the bottom left corner, the signature "Degas" appears in red.

Horse and Rider

c. 1890

Edgar Degas

(French, 1834–1917)
France, 19th century

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