Basil Blackshaw, H.R.H.A

Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, where purchased by the present owner in 1990

Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Basil Blackshaw Touring Exhibition, 1995

Brian Ferran (intro.), Basil Blackshaw - Painter, 1995, illustrated pl.64, p.117

Original canvas. Some craquelure to the extreme left edge and some craquelure and a small spot of resulting paint loss to the upper right edge; this is where the artist has worked the paint to the edges of the canvas fold and is not visually distracting and only noticeable upon close inspection. The work appears in very good original condition overall with strong passages of impasto. Ultraviolet light reveals no apparent signs of retouching. Held in original wooden slip frame, crack to lower edge.
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‘It’s the painting! All I’m interested in is what happens on the canvas.’ (Blackshaw, Irish Arts Review, vol.19, no.3, Winter 2002, p.67)

With the knowledge of this statement, one can righfully approach Race Horse. It is not direct mimesis Blackshaw is after but feeling and expression, and here it emanates from the canvas in the energetic, spontaneous and rich painterly surface. The horse fills the canvas and standing alone, front leg raised, contains a strong sense of unbridled freedom. 'I don't think the painting should be illustrating anything, it should be working on the unconscious. It should be giving you the feeling that I had, maybe in a different way, but it should be something different than what the subject is.' (Blackshaw at 80, exh. catalogue, 2012, p.12)

The horse has formed a central image within Blackshaw's career, an artist brought up in County Down, the son of a horse-trainer, where a deep familiarity with the countryside and its community was nurtured. In each of his representations of the horse one senses a true rapport with this noble animal, whether in the tonal, misty works such as Horses Exercising, 1972, or the dramatic racing scenes such as Grand National (Foinavon's Year), 1977. Race Horse, from 1990, belongs to a period when Blackshaw's pictures were becoming increasingly expressive, and this is one of his most evocative renderings - a potent, self-contained image. In the long history of horse painting, from the first primitive renderings to the monumental works by Stubbs or Delacroix, Blackshaw has made his own distinctive and significant contribution. Within an Irish context, he is one of only few Irish artists (Yeats being another notable figure) to have conspicuously left his mark in this great artistic tradition.