HAIG MEMORIAL

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 81, 7 April 1931, Page 9

HAIG MEMORIAL

HORSE UNDER FIRE

REALISM AND ART

'LEA FOR COMMON-SENSE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 20th January. There is a great deal of criticism, some amusement, and a lesser amount of indignation concerning the shape of the horse In tho model of the Earl Haig statue.' The horse in the first model made by Mr. A. P. 'Hardiman in 1929 was criticised as "a semi-Epstein cart-borso," while that in the second model, also made by Mr. Hardiman, was an attempt to meet a fairly general demand for a more realistic charger. Further criticisms havo suggested that the equestrian likeness is still insufficiently accurate, and it was stated by Mr. Lansbury, the First Commissioner of Works, on Saturday that the.assessors have put forward the following points for the artist's consideration: The length of the horse's neck, and the vertical line of chest and neck. The length of the tail and its concordance with the mane. 'Weathering up of the ground to make the hoofs more visible. The assessors are Sir William Goscombe John (chairman), Viscount D'Abernon, Mr. W. Eeynolds Stephens, Sir Herbert Baker, and Mr. A. M. Daniel. THE SWAN-LIKE NECK. Tie Earl of Albermarle (an lion, member of the Eoyal Society of British Artists), writing to "The Times," says: — "To begin with tho head, I know several people of minor importance for whom it might pass as a fair likeness, but it fails to remind me of tho FieldMarshal, and'the expression seems unlike -what we were accustomed to sec. Personally I do not recall tho ridingBchool seat and the pose of the body as at all reminiscent of the man when mounted. Both the breeches and tho boots suggest models taken straight from the tradesmen's shops, and the cloak not like a martial cloak. "As to the horse, I cannot think that any man who has been accustomed to equine breeds would look twice at an animal with a swan-like neck, within a few inches as long as its back, measured from withers to root of tail, with spindle legs and apparently rigid pastern joints. Eealism no one can cavil at, but surely this latest model is representative neither of a British thoroughbred, as we know him, nor even of a half-bred hunter known to us as a cocktail. These are the ODly types of horses that Lord Haig would dream of riding. Therefore I assert that the atmosphere in this case is all wrong. Moreover, the new model Jiorse appears to me to be neither walking nor at rest, and reminds me in his gait, more than anything else, of a South African trippler." The Duke of Portland says:— "It (the horse) seems to mo to represent an animal which has most, if not all, of the faults in conformation which it is possible for any liorso to possess, and to answer tho description once given to me by a famous judge of horses, 'A perfect specimen of a star-gazing, ewe-necked, weedy thoroughbred.' " WHEN A HORSE WALKS. "No horse that I have over known, apart from a circus performer or a hackney, bent his foreleg as Mr. Hardiman's horse is bending his," says another correspondent. "Further, no horse that ever lived, circus and hackney included, walked as this horse walks. When a horse walks he moves forward a near or an off fore leg with an oft or a near hind leg; but he never moves forward a near or an off: fore leg with a'near or an off hind leg. When the near side fore hoof leaves tho ground, the near side hind hoof is ready to fall into the vacated space, having been moved forward while tho n&ar side fore hoof was at rest." Another letter is as follows:— "May I, as an ex-cavalry man and horse-lover, and one of the many thousands of admirers of our late Com- • mander-in-Chief, say that I think the horse on which that great soldier is mounted on the proposed statue is a monstrosity. The near hind leg is wooden, the fetlock is false, the raised leg is 'stuck on,' and I am at a loss to know why the three 'ribs' are shown on the knee, and the neck and head romind one of a child's rocking-horse. Whenever I saw Lord Haig on horso; back he always rode with tho foot well 'home' in the stirrup, which is correct. Foch 's statue at Victoria is wonderfully realistic. Then why not put our Commander-in-Chief on a thoroughbred, instead of on a built-up dummy?" WITHOtTT A CAP. "It is a pity,'.' writes Mr. Eobert Cromie, F.E.1J8.A., "that British sculpture so often fails merely through lack of common-sense. To represent Haig as riding in full uniform without his, cap is just as ridiculous as it would be were he represented as riding without his boots!" Mr. Murray Adams-Acton, F.S.A., suggests that the "unfortunate controversy should bo left entirely in the hands of men with artistic perception. The president of the Royal Academy and a committeo of eminent sculptors should be invited to settle tho matter without interference." "The question is," says Mr. Murray Adams-Acton, "are we to have a work of art as a memorial, or adopt his suggestion of enlarging a. photograph? Surely, thorc is enough bad statuary in London?" SCRAP BOTH DESIGNS. The Hon. John Collier is probably right when he suggests that Mr. Hardiman is merely being "difficult." To "The Times" he writes:—"The new design for the Haig statue is quite impossible The live assessors practically recognise this by insisting on drastic alterations; but no alterations c.in make It a good statue. "I can hardly believe that Mr. Hardiman means this design to be taken seriously. I imagine that he' was so much annoyed at the outcry against his present***^ of Lord Haig as a burly swashtraflklcr seated on a carthorse that ho rushed to the other extreme and threw his new design in the face of the public. I am afraid ho has been misled by the pestilent nonsense talked by certain art critics about the faithful representation of Nature being a crime in art. I. implore him to scrap both designs and to devote his undoubted talents to producing a trim likeness of the real Haig in his habit as he lived, seated on the sort: of horse that he was accustomed to ride. ■ "Tho least we can clo for a dead hero is to tell no lien about him either in print or in stone, and as for - tho horse, surely an Rnglish thoroughbred is a beautiful creature —far more beautif ill and sculpturesquo than the impossible animal invented by Mr. Hardiman." Other comments are:— "The model (of tho horse) as it is in morn like a camel than. a. horpo; and could easily be changed into 01m with only a. few alterations. "It is to bo hoped that .. . i,he late Field-Marshal .. . may appear to he> seated on a horse of some Port, and not, as the photograph sliows. on n prehistoric etcction which looks like a

legendary cross between a giraffe and a four-legged ostrich. "I, as an animal painter and horse-j wonian, ache in every fibre at the thought of this effigy going down to posterity in company with the great Field-Marshal. Tho horse .... would disgrace a roundabout." A PRECEDENT MENTIONED. ! A "'Horse Soldier" writes to the "Daily Telegraph" suggesting two statues. "It secm3 apparent (ho says) that tho artists and tho soldiers can never agree as to the form aud shape and details of Lord ITaig's statue. Tho artists want a symbolic, heroic statue, and the soldiers want one exactly liko Lord Haig and his horse. "Well, why not satisfy both, aud have two statues, for is there not a precedent in tho case of the Duko of Wellington'? Just inside Hyde Park is _ a symbolic monument to the Duke, Ay.ix defying (he lightning (or something of that sort). Just outside Hydo Park and facing Apsley House is tho Duke in uniform and on his horse, as his soldiers and his countrymen knew him. "So, in Lord Haig's case, let the artists havo their way—Lord Haig, disguised as Samson, for instance, pulling down the pillars (marked 'Germany' aud 'Austria'), whilst the soldiers and several million others also have th&ir own way, a simple statue of Lord Haig on his liorso as we knew him, on the lines of Marshal Foch's statue in Grosvenor Gardens. Thus all would be pleased."