The Sporting Life: The Art of Joseph H. Sulkowski
Review by Norman Fine
The Sporting Life: The Art of Joseph H. Sulkowski, text by Brooke Chilvers, Foreword by Lorian Peralta-Ramos, Sporting Classics, 2017, hardcover, 240 pp., $60. Available from Dog and Horse Fine Art in their Charleston, South Carolina gallery, via email, or telephone (834-577-5500)
Here is a beautifully designed and magnificently produced coffee table book of sporting art: two hundred forty pages filled with high quality color reproductions of more than 180 paintings and sketches by Joseph Sulkowski. The 12-1/4 x 11-1/4 hard bound volume was meticulously printed on fine quality coated stock so substantial I was tempted to measure the thickness with a wooden ruler. The book weighs in at five pounds.
But here’s the thing. It’s not just a book of brilliant paintings; it’s a college level course in art appreciation by a writer, Brooke Chilvers, who at age seventeen moved herself to Paris to study art history. Upon completing her studies, Chilvers embarked on a year-long camping trip, after which she married Rudy Lubin, a French professional hunter who operated in the French Republic of Africa for forty years. Chilvers has been the editor of African Hunting Gazette for twelve years and the art columnist for Gray’s Sporting Journal for fifteen years. She has filled high-level offices in international hunting organizations and won journalistic awards for her writing.
Fox News
Bennett Tucker photo Fox News has put Aiken’s favorite critters to work as newsboys. The news empire is making a sincere effort to improve their service in Aiken, South Carolina. “Everyone knows foxes are smart, just perfect for this job,” said a company spokesperson. “They know every square inch of their territory, they are known […]
Huntsmen On the Move: 2018
Neil Amatt will hunt hounds at Loudoun Fairfax.Having been a member of many fields in many hunting countries, the huntsman has always been my hero. From the time we mount up and for the few hours that follow, it is the huntsman who is most directly responsible for our day’s sport.
One might well argue that the hounds have something to do with it, and this I grant. But the pack is the product of the huntsman, and, since the level of sport depends on how hounds perform in the field as a pack, it all comes back to the huntsman.
Here’s our annual report on the recent moves of huntsmen Neil Amatt, Martyn Blackmore, Tony Gammell, and Sam Clifton.
Norfolk Blarney is Grand Champion at New England
Grand Champion Norfolk Blarney with (l-r) Dominic Cammarata, MFH, kennelman Alyse Phipps, and Tom Lewis, MFH / Eric Schneider photo
The New England Foxhound Show was hosted by the Norfolk Hunt in their Dover, Massachusetts country on May 6, 2018. Six hunts from four of the six New England States brought hounds: Green Mountain Hounds (VT), Myopia Hunt (MA), Norfolk Hunt (MA), Old North Bridge Hounds (MA), Tanheath Hunt (CT), and Wentworth Hunt (NH).
At the end of the day, a tricolor Crossbred dog hound, Norfolk Blarney 2016 (Myopia Bartlett 2008 ex Myopia Rachel 20112), was chosen Grand Champion of Show by Judge John Ike, ex-MFH, visiting from the Millbrook Hunt (NY).
I found Blarney’s breeding to be quite interesting, and I talked to Sue Billings, longtime Norfolk honorary whipper-in, about him as well.
Foxhunting Art Show and Sale To Brighten Morven Park
Larry Wheeler, 16 x 20, oil on canvas, “Catch,” Deep Run Hunt Here’s a final reminder, latest information, and sneak-preview of the Art Show at Morven Park to be presented by the Museum of Hounds and Hunting over the Virginia Foxhound Show weekend. The Opening at 4 PM and the Reception at 5 PM on Saturday, May 26, 2018, the day before the hound show, will be for Museum members, their guests, and the artists. The show opens to the public on Sunday morning, the day of the hound show, and the works will remain on display until June 25th.
Brazos Valley Two Step Is Grand Champion at Southwest
Grand Champion Brazos Valley Two Step poses with Sandy Dixon, MFH and Judge Jordan Hicks.For the third consecutive year, a Brazos Valley foxhound was judged Grand Champion of the Southwest Hound Show hosted at Marvin Savage Farm in Weatherford, Texas, on Saturday, April 21, 2018.
This year, it was Brazos Valley Two Step 2016, an American dog hound, who collected top honors from judge Jordan Hicks, professional huntsman of the Piedmont Fox Hounds (VA).
Senior Senator Captures Second Maryland Hunt Cup
Skip and Vicki Crawford, MFHs, Potomac Hunt, celebrate their horse’s second winning of the Maryland Hunt Cup with trainer Joe Davies (center). / Douglas Lees photoAfter winning the Grand National Steeplechase in Butler, Maryland on April 21, 2018, Senior Senator marched to the starting line of the legendary Maryland Hunt Cup at Worthington Farms on the following Saturday, April 28. The eight-year-old bay gelding with the long white blaze must have reminded himself, ‘I won this race two years ago, and I can do it again.’ And he did. Two prestigious wins in two successive weeks. Senator is now two legs up on the three wins necessary to retire the cup for owner Skip Crawford and his wife Vicki, MFHs of the Potomac Hunt (MD).
Blue Ridge Hunt Point-to-Point Moves To April, and Spring
This oil painting by Linda Volrath is a reminder of the cruel winds and sometimes worse weather that prevailed at the Blue Ridge Hunt point-to-point on that first weekend in March every year. With the new late-April race date, such days on this excellent viewing racecourse are now just a memory…it is sincerely hoped.The Blue Ridge Hunt’s point-to-point course at Woodley has long been one of the favorite venues for race watching as far as view ability of the races are concerned. But the early March date on the Woodley hillside has had an equally long history of unforgettably uncomfortable weather, as Linda Volrath’s wonderful painting reminds us. The hunt’s new April date, which fell this year on Sunday, the 22nd, promises now to substantially improve the comfort aspect of the equation for viewers and participants alike. This year, it was a picture-perfect day for both horses and people, and a new look greeted spectators with vendor and sponsor tents, a food stand, stick pony races for the children, spring temperatures, and blessed sunshine.
Loudoun Hunt Point-to-Point Races
(Center) Greg Ryan’s Three Kingdoms (Kieran Norris up) won the Open Hurdle Race. / Lesley & David Hower photoLoudoun Hunt opened a day of point-to-point racing at Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg, Virginia on Sunday, April 15, 2018, with two exhibition side saddle races—one over fences, the other on the flat. King of Hearts trained by George Kuk and ridden by Devon Zebrovious was the winner over fences. The sixteen-yerar-old bay gelding alternated the lead with Little Lady, Amy Jo McGee up, in the two-horse field and prevailed in the stretch.
Hail Yeah was the winner by a neck in the Side Saddle Flat race in a field of seven. Winning owner was Terri Ehrenfeld, and Kathryn Cowles was trainer and rider.
The Year of the Hound: Showcasing the Foxhunts of Virginia
Piedmont Fox Hounds II by Rev. Michael TangThe Museum of Hounds And Hunting will present an art show, The Year of the Hound: Showcasing the Foxhunts of Virginia. The show will open with a reception at Morven Park over the Virginia Foxhound Show Weekend. Artwork for the show has been created throughout the past foxhunting season by invited members of the American Academy of Equine Art (AAEA), a national organization founded in the Virginia Hunt Country in 1980.
All pieces—paintings and sculptures—will be new works of art representing every registered foxhunt in the Commonwealth: twenty-five active hunts. The show will open at 4 PM in the Morven Park Mansion, Leesburg, Virginia, on Saturday, May 26, 2018. An Opening Reception will be held Saturday evening from 5–7 PM. The show will be open on Sunday as well (the day of the hound show), and all works will remain on view until Saturday, June 30. The show will include about fifty new works by Signature members of the AAEA. All art will be for sale, and a portion of sales will benefit the Museum of Hounds and Hunting.