Ecorche: Relief of a Horse (Josephine)
Thomas Eakins, American, 1844 - 1916
modeled about 1882; cast 1979
Bronze
6/10
Sight: 22 in. (55.9 cm)
Sight: 25 in. (63.5 cm)
Overall: 2 in. (5.1 cm)
Overall: 3 in. (7.6 cm)
Mount: 28 5/8 × 28 5/8 in. (72.7 × 72.7 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart P. Feld
2009.72.1
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
19th century
Object Name
Sculpture: Relief
Research Area
Sculpture
On view
Label
Associated with cowboys and Indigenous communities in the American West, with laboring “horsepower” in blacksmith shops, or with mainstays of country leisure and exercise, the horse has long been a symbol of American identity. In the large hide at center, hunters on horseback pursue buffalo while others dance around an American flag. The inclusion of the flag in an era when Native Americans were denied citizenship suggests that this piece was made for sale to White tourists. This work and those that surround it reflect the often-unequal convergence of cultures as well as their respective perseverance. Indigenous artists found an opportunity to support themselves through artmaking, as did immigrants who found themselves in laboring shops or people of different races who steered cattle.
From the 2026 exhibition Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, curated by Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow), Michael Hartman (former Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), and Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collections)
Exhibition History
Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; February 7-August 29, 2026.
Provenance
Stuart P. Feld, New York, New York; given to present collection, 2009.
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