Page 321 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Studies: animal

138 Twin horses
Wood
6” x 3.75”

154 Head of a horse
Wood
5.75” x 4.5”

155 Head of a horse
Wood
5.5” x 4.5”

As he relates in his narrative, AR had many experiences with
horses; that may explain their relative frequency of occurrence
among his animal studies. He tried to carve an equine head in
stone (no. 46), quite unsuccessfully; the subject matter may
have been suggested by the shape of the stone he had to work
with. The details are sketchily incised. The pieces in wood are
more interesting.

No. 114 depends on two twigs forking from a branch, but
could not have been completely inspired by them: AR had to
glue in the front legs, carved from some other parts of the
same tree. The form is rough, made rougher by the finish of
gouged chisel-marks. Nevertheless, it does stand on its own
four legs. The child deriving the most amusement from a toy
like this probably was the sculptor himself.

Carved in a modified “trophy mount” format—flat on back
and bottom to fit against the back of a shelf—the two horse
heads of no. 138 are joined at the neck like Siamese twins,
perhaps suggesting a brace of working animals. Miraculously,
the four tiny pointed ears (not separate elements, as on other
similar pieces) remain intact. The detail is minimal, and the
source of inspiration obscure.

A stereotypical equine study, no. 154 is of interest for precisely
that fact: AR copied it as closely as he could from a model
supplied by his son-in-law Max. That model, a commercial
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