Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur, ca. early 1900s

Growing up rural France gave young Rosa Bonheur inspiration to draw the domestic and farm animals around her. Bonheur showed potential early on in her artistic endeavors and received immediate support from her father – a painter in his own right – who would also become Bonheur’s mentor in her formal training. After her father passed, Bonheur was left to fend for herself, which lead to her professional development. Her innate talent garnered commercial success and public acceptance quickly, even though her personal habits as an artist were rather controversial. To better understand her animal subjects, Bonheur would visit slaughterhouses. Because women were under no circumstances allowed in these spaces, she chopped her hair short and dressed in men’s garb (which would later become her clothing of choice).
Bonheur’s engraving, "The Horse Fair," showcases her deep understanding of the subject matter she chooses to depict. The implied movement gives the viewer a sense of the organized chaos as these men lead their horses around in a circular motion to showcase their wares. The dusty atmosphere caused by circling horses is emphasized through Bonheur’s choice of engraving as her medium which gives the piece a natural graininess. Compositionally, the viewer is placed on the outside of the horse ring, calling them to action as a fellow onlooker. One horse that is just off center of the piece, to the left, is darker than the rest and is the only one rearing upwards in the composition. Adding this horse puts in an element of excitement and a visual interest that engages the viewer further into the action. Bonheur’s use of contrast emphasizes the intense muscular structure of the horses, showing of her vast understanding of their anatomy. The careful attention Bonheur makes to detail is exposed in her rendering each of the horses faces as an individual character rather than a repeat of the same. Paying such close attention to these details not only brings out the formal realism of Bonheur’s training, but provides the viewer with more emotional engagement in the scene. - Erin Lascot

Selected Bibliography
Rosa Bonheur.” The Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 19. Gale, 2004. Accessed March 29, 2018