Larry Wheeler, Meet at Sunrise, Oil, 16 x 20 inches, Collection of the Artist
The National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg, Virginia, will present an exhibition of artwork by members of the American Academy of Equine Art―both living and deceased. The NSL&M is a fitting venue for this exhibit, titled 2020 Hindsight: 40 Years of the American Academy of Equine Art. The AAEA shares with the NSL&M a founder and several of the earliest supports of both institutions.
The Museum exhibition will be open to visitors from November 12, 2021, through March 20, 2022. Claudia Pfeiffer, George L. Ohrstom, Jr, Curator of the Museum, curated the exhibit. Though AAEA artists and this exhibit embrace numerous equestrian disciplines―racing, showing, steeplechasing, polo, breeding, stable, and pasture scenes―the images in this article are limited to foxhunting-related subjects.
Booth Malone, Burrland Road, Orange County Hounds, oil on linen, 35 x 29 inches, Collection of the National Sporting Library & Museum, Gift of Viviane M. Warren
“This show is a retrospective of the scope and history of the AAEA and its members, past and present,” said AAEA president Booth Malone. The organizers decided to retain the originally-planned exhibit title featuring “2020,” delayed as it was by Covid, rather than change “40” to “41”!
On exhibit will be works by Jean Bowman (1917–1994), June Harrah (1910–1997), Henry Koehler (1927–2018), Fay Moore (1920–2016), Wallace Nall (1922–2003), Marilyn Newmark (1928–2013), Eve Prime (1929–2007), Richard Stone Reeves (1919–2005), Sam Savitt (1917–2000), and Else Tuckerman (1913–1998). The names of these artists have been hallowed by time and the endurance of their creative legacies.
Kathleen Friedenberg, Opening Meet, Bronze, 17 x 11 x 16 inches, Private Collection
Also selected for exhibit are works by these contemporary AAEA member artists: Nancy Allen, Anita Baarns, Melinda Brewer, Christine Cancelli, Elizabeth Chomicki, B.J. Clark, Enkhbold Dambadarjaa, Kathleen Friedenberg, Michelle Grant, Gail Guirreri-Maslyk, Valerie Hinz, Lesley Hunphrey, Doreen Irwin, Sally Jackson, Meryl Learnihan, Linda Luster, Booth Malone, Joanne Mehle, Sally Moore, Carrie Nygren, Sam Robinson, Marilyn Sadler, Elizabeth Scott, Leslie Sorg, Andrea Steiner, Michael Tang, Carol Lee Thompson, Yvonne Todd, Linda Volrath, and Larry Wheeler.
Joanne Mehl, Lifting Fog, Oil, 16 x 22 inches, Collection of the Artist
The American Academy of Equine Art was founded in Middleburg, Virginia, in 1980 by Alexander Mackay-Smith and Dr. Joseph Rogers, MFH, Loudon Hunt (VA). The two founders recruited world-renowned artists Jean Bowman and Else Tuckerman to join them in the effort. Bowman and Tuckerman, in their turn, tapped a virtual Who’s Who in the equine art world to be inaugural members: June Harrah, Henry Koehler, William Wallace Nall, Marilyn Newmark, Eve Prime, Princess Marie Louise Moncada, Richard Stone Reeves, and Sam Savitt. The Academy’s goals were nurturing, educating, and promoting all artists interested in the classical representation of the equine as a subject of art.
Leslie Sorg, Mt. Ragg 2, Batik, cloth, 18 x 24 inches, Collection of the Artist
The AAEA is now headquartered in Georgetown, Kentucky. Over the past forty years, the organization has inspired a generation of equine artists in all manner of media, techniques, and artistic influences. The exhibition and exhibit catalog, 2020 Hindsight, will explore the rich history of the AAEA. A dynamic selection of works by members will highlight the varied talents fostered by this influential organization over the years.
Christine Cancelli, Butterfield & Company, Oil, 24 x 30 inches, Collection of the Artist
The National Sporting Library & Musem was founded in Middleburg, Virginia, in 1954 by Alexander Mackay-Smith and George L. Ohrstrom, Sr. Today, the library houses twenty-thousand volumes, historic periodicals dating back to the early nineteenth century, over eighty archival collections, and an outstanding variety of antiquarian titles dating back to 1523. The Museum’s collection has grown to over thirteen hundred objects, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, trophies, weathervanes, dog collars, and other ephemera. Two major temporary exhibitions are curated and presented each year.
Posted October 8, 2021