Franz Marc: Horses

Like no other artist, Franz Marc pursued the representation of the horse--a central topic in the fine arts--as his life's work. As a painter and co-founder of the "Blaue Reiter" he created symbolic, visionary images which today stand among the icons of modernism. This publication presents an overview of Marc's paintings, drawings, gouaches and a number of famous postcards--from his nature studies of 1905 and 1906 to the sketches he made on the eve of World War I. During this short period of time, the horse motif became increasingly central, especially after Marc moved from Munich to the secluded upper Bavarian village of Sindelsdorf. With a skill for precise observation and intuitive understanding, Marc attempted an ''animalization of art,'' in which the horse became both subject and expression of the hope for better and more organic existence.