'The Horse Show' presents iconic interpretations at Sheldon Museum of Art

The Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will present "The Horse Show" beginning Feb. 2. The exhibition of horse images and sculptures from the museum's collections and artworks on loan from private local collections will be on view through May 23.

Art featuring the horse as a subject dates to times earlier than the cave paintings at Lascaux, France, and Altamira, Spain. An animal evoking strength, speed, power and endurance, the horse excites the human aesthetic imagination in interpretations of beauty, power and fantasy.

The artworks present diverse styles ranging from Boris Lovet-Lorski's equestrian theme present in "Untitled (Nude and Horse)," to an undated piece by an unknown carver titled "Carousel Horse (Bessie)," representing folk art. Marino Marini's 1949 "Horsemen" offers an interesting reversal to the power and beauty romances of horse, suggesting disinterested whimsy while Niki de Saint Phalle's "Le Cheval et la Mariee" ("The Horse and The Bride," 1963/1997), a horse encrusted with toys, suggests exuberant and dangerous fantasy. The Saint Phalle sculpture is on loan from the Karen and Robert Duncan Collection. Deborah Butterfield, a dressage artist as well as accomplished sculptor, created Sheldon's "Derby Horse" in 1985. From the Kathryn and Marc LeBaron collection is a second Butterfield horse, "Gus," and Jean Pierre Larocque's "Untitled (Horse)." The Larocque ceramic horse is mottled, irregular, and anti-heroic -- concerned as much with experimentation of materials and process as with formal integrity.

In addition, the exhibition will include Lovet-Lorski's "On Parade (Stallions)" and from Sheldon's permanent collection, "19th-Century Horse (Shop Sign)" by an unknown artisan. Also on loan from the Duncan Collection for the exhibition in the Great Hall will be "Five Horses -- Side by Side" by Immi C. Storrs.

Programming with the exhibition includes:

* Opening Reception, Feb. 2, 5-7 p.m. -- Karen Janovy, curator of the exhibition, will discuss many of the artworks during a gallery walk.

* Sheldon Sunday Talk, April 11, 2 p.m. -- Gale Faltin of Take Flight Farms and Edye Godden of the Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Academy speak about equine-assisted learning and psychotherapy programs.

* Sheldon Sunday Talk, April 25, 2 p.m. -- Julie Wood of Sunrise EquiTherapy with miniature therapy horse, Lucky Boy, demonstrate an equine therapy program.

Sheldon Museum of Art houses a permanent collection of more than 12,000 objects focusing on American art. Sheldon, 12th and R streets on the UNL City Campus, is open free to the public during regular hours: Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; closed Mondays. For information or to arrange a tour, call (402) 472-4524. Additional information is available on the Sheldon Web site, www.sheldon.unl.edu.