Horses

Text : Catherine Chaine
Publisher : Atelier EXB
Release date : 31 octobre 2024
ISBN : 978-2-36511-422-6
Book-size : 21 x 28 cm
Langage : French
128 pages

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Horses reveals a little-known aspect of Jane Evelyn Atwood’s work: her long-running series on horses, or rather her relationship with horses. A major photographic subject, the horse is here the vector of many themes dear to the American photographer: her fascination for this animal developed since childhood, her admiration for its strong physical presence but also its share of humanity. Immersed in the great outdoors, from Brittany to Mongolia to Vermont, the reader discovers the majesty of this animal, wild or domesticated, which has accompanied mankind since the dawn of time.

Atwood’s images expose the very essence of movement, the nobility of posture and the subtle play of light and shadow on the animal’s coat. The horse is transformed into a veritable living sculpture, where the shape of its body sometimes evokes abstract, almost dreamlike landscapes.

The visual corpus is complemented by a text by Jane Evelyn Atwood, which sheds light on her intentions and intimate relationship with horses.

Excerpt (Jane Evelyn Atwood)
Horses demand to be photographed. Their muscular chests fascinate me, three times as wide as I am, their powerful necks and elegant heads that always seem to be in motion – or trembling and quivering in anticipation. But it’s their expressions that touch me and hold my attention. Their gaze is so human that it could be our own: their eyes, huge and fierce, glancing at me sideways or staring at me intently. They study me – again, like children – and I study them. By observing them, I begin to know them.