Deborah Butterfield: Horses

Deborah Butterfield, Untitled (2725.1), 2003, cast bronze with patina, 347 x 54 x 22 in, Museum Purchase with funds provided by the Mary K. and Robert R. Broadbent Endowment and the John M. Booth Endowment, with additional support from Mr. and Mrs. David K. Welles, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Stifel, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Evans, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Titelman and Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Woodhouse, 2004.001

Deborah Butterfield: Horses

January 28, 2017 – June 4, 2017

Deborah Butterfield is a renowned sculptor, known for her horses created from materials ranging from found wood, reclaimed steel, and cast bronze. This exhibition will bring together representative examples of her equine forms in various sizes from various periods, some meant to rest on the floor and others to be exhibited on pedestals. Butterfield first began creating sculpture in the form of a horse in the 1970s using mud, clay and sticks. In 1977, she moved to a ranch in Montana and in 1979 began using scrap metal and found steel. For the past decade, she has been making bronze work, cast from “stray, downed pieces of wood.” Butterfield was born in San Diego, CA, on the same day as the 75th running of the Kentucky Derby, a fact that she claims to be the source of inspiration for her impulse to sculpt horses. Her works of art may be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, the Chrysler Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Snite Museum of Art at Notre Dame University; and many others including, of course, the Vero Beach Museum of Art.