Black-Figure Lip Cup, circa 540-530 BC (Photo by Claudia Pfeiffer)
I’ve ridden a horse exactly once in my life. The thrill of speed created from raw, muscular power, the sound of hooves pounding the earth, and the wind rushing past my ears remain with me decades later — as does the anxiety associated with making the animal stop.
Everybody’s got to start somewhere, though, and, like so much in Western civilization, appreciation for the horse became a serious interest with a descriptive word of its own: “hippomania,” a passion for horses. You can experience the Ancient Greek veneration of the horse at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' new exhibition, "The Horse in Ancient Greek Art," on view from Feb. 17-July 8. Admission both to the museum and exhibit is free. There are associated talks and presentations during the show’s run.
The horse permeated the culture of Ancient Greece from myth to sport. Carol C. Mattusch, emerita professor of art history at George Mason University, writes in the exhibition catalog, “The Greeks were not pleasure riders, nor were horses used for agricultural labor; they were owned by rulers and aristocrats and used only for the highest pursuits. Horses served in battle and in the sports of the wealthy. Hunting was a good preparation for both riders and horses for warfare.” Greek writer Xenophon (ca. 430-354 BC) created manuals about horses, their uses and care, and in it is found the early examples of what today is called dressage, an advanced form of riding.
Then, just as now, maintaining and providing for a horse ran into serious money. The horse figured in entertainment, as in chariot races, where audiences thrilled not only at the speed, but also at the associated collisions and injury. Co-curator and VMFA Curator of Ancient Art Peter Justin Moon Schertz, cited one such competition in which 40 chariots started the contest and one finished. The Greek races were a cross between our NASCAR and a demolition derby, but without the use of our safety equipment — or fossil fuels.
Greek mythology bequeathed to us such half-man, half-horse creatures as the centaur, the flying Pegasus, and an odd mashup of horse and rooster. The Happalektryon warded away sea monsters from ships — perhaps, as my colleague Craig Belcher observed, with laughter.
Similar to other recent VMFA exhibits, "The Horse in Ancient Greek Art" offers interactivity. So you have amazing vases and other artistic expressions with horse themes, a craft bar where you might make your own horse piece, and a “symposium” corner where you might contemplate the meaning of it all and perhaps dash off some poetry. If you’re unaccustomed to the ways and means of symposium, Virginia Commonwealth University kinetic imaging animators have created a 360-degree tutorial that you can download on your device.
The exhibition sent me out thinking about how the horse remains part of our culture — even as an anthropomorphic metaphorical character in the animated “Bojack Horseman,” a modern adaptation of these old myths mixed with U.S pop culture. In this explanation, there’s even a veering into Greek philosophy to explain the background of the Netflix program.
"The Horse in Ancient Greek Art" is on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Boulevard, from Feb. 17-July 8.
