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Herbert Haseltine , (Apr 10, 1877–Jan 8, 1962)

Aberdeen Angus: Black Knight of Auchterarder

1922-1924
16 1/2 in. x 29 in. (41.91 cm x 73.66 cm)

Medium and Support: black belgian marble

Credit Line: gift of anonymous donor

Accession Number: 1931.23

Commentary

Henry Haseltine, the son of American painter William Stanley Haseltine, was born in Rome where his family had settled permanently in 1869. From a young age Herbert’s passion was for animals, and horses particularly. While he received no academic training in sculpture, he briefly studied drawing in Munich, Paris, and Rome before studying with Aimié Morot, a French painter known for his depictions of horses. Morot encouraged Haseltine to make clay models to attain thorough knowledge of his animal subjects, one of which won honorable mention at the 1906 Paris Salon. This early recognition brought him a number of commissions for sculptural portraits of horses.

In the 1920s he began a series of British champion animals, sculpting the animals on site and finishing them in his Paris studio. Among the twenty-four he completed by 1924 were the three now owned by the Addison, Percheron Stallion, Rhum, Percheron Mare and Foal, Messaline, and Aberdeen Andus: Black Knight of Auchterarder, all in a style influenced by the massed forms and simple surfaces of Egyptian sculpture. While Haseltine’s work, in its reduction of line, surface, and form, has echoes in early modernist sculpture, he wrote that he wasn’t much interested in the sculpture of his day. For him, the “masterpieces of the Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek and Chinese schools were exhilarating and stimulating.”

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Herbert Haseltine, 1877-1962 Graham Gallery , 5/1/1973 - 5/26/1973
Explorations: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints in the Addison Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/4/2001 - 1/13/2002
Taking Shape: Sculpture at the Addison Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/17/2016 - 3/19/2017

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