Butterfield’s art conveys both a deep love for and a respect for these magnificent animals. Born the same day as the 75th anniversary of the Kentucky Derby, Deborah Butterfield has been crafting horses out of scavenged and discarded materials since the 1970’s. At her Montana ranch Butterfield trains, rides and generally bonds with her horses during the summer months. Today there is great demand for her equine sculptures. Sculpting only during the long winter months, Butterfield now may take 3-5 years to complete a work. In her later works, as in our example, Butterfield addresses her sculptures with a more abstract approach. Beginning in 1985 she made a dramatic switch from sticks, mud grass, and wire to bronze for her sculptures, once she discovered what she could do with this metal.
"It was the most fun I ever had. I had all this expressive material that wasn’t long for this world, rotting sticks in piles, and when they were transformed into bronze I could use them. Now I have steel moods and bronze moods."
—Deborah Butterfield
As a horsewoman Butterfield understands the horse. How she constructs the horse, how she places the sculpture in a certain space is evidence of her acute knowledge of this majestic animal. Yet she also understands the materials—what to use, what to manipulate, and what to change-evidence of her accomplishment as a sculptor. Knowledge of the two creates a work that is the true essence of this creature and her art.
Tango, constructed of rent and rusted metal and other objects, barely identifiable and partially wrapped in steel, is a beautifully conceived model of what was, presumably, an actual model, one of Butterfield’s own stallions.
Deborah Butterfield is a contemporary American sculptor best known for modeling horses of found materials such as branches, twigs, and pieces of driftwood that she collects from the natural environment. Carefully selecting and arranging each piece of material, the artist often spends hours experimenting with different combinations of materials to achieve the desired effect. Beginning with, and sometimes finishing with, an armature, or a framework, Butterfield will also, for some models, create an outer layer of the sculpture, building up the form of the horse through a process of layering and weaving the materials together.
Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
Sherman Collection, Baltimore, MD
Andre Emmerich, New York
Acquired directly from the above in 1993
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity provided by the Butterfield studio.
New York, Andre Emmerich, Table Sculpture, 15 June-14 July 1993