Rediscover horses through art

An exhibition by Hyderabad’s Kalakriti Art Gallery puts the spotlight on how artists have depicted horses over the centuries

An untitled painting by Diptish Ghosh Dastidar, dated 2006, tips its hat to horses on the battlefields of yore. The horse is in full gallop, carrying a warrior, and the artist captures it in flight from a low vantage point, to highlight its majesty. Archival Mughal school of paintings give us glimpses of ornately decked horses occupying a pride of place in the kingdom. A contemporary painting by G R Iranna turns its gaze on horses in the changing urban landscape. Hyderabad’s Kalakriti Art Gallery, which has several paintings of horses in its collection, decided to showcase how they have been depicted by traditional and contemporary artists through an exhibition titled Where Did The Horses Go?, curated by Kallol Ray.

In his curatorial note, Ray draws attention to how artists and writers have been fascinated by horses that stand as symbols of vitality and strength. While paintings of horses by Picasso and M F Husain continue to be popular in art circles, Ray wonders if horses have disappeared from the collective imagination of late. The exhibition is an attempt to rediscover horses through art.