NEW Print of the Month: October 2020
We are delighted to be publishing this striking new edition with Jo Taylor. Produced during lockdown, Eclipse develops upon the painter’s already extensive portfolio of prints made in collaboration with the studio.
As our daily routines almost ground to a halt, Jo further appreciated how life must have been years ago when we all relied on the horse. Having travelled the world in search of the finest horses, for this new print, Taylor made her observational drawings from the descendant of a successful 18th century racehorse named Eclipse - himself the subject of paintings by George Stubbs. According to a 2019 Guardian article, the undefeated 18th-century champion can boast being ‘daddy of them all’ : Today, the majority of thoroughbreds can trace their ancestry back to Eclipse.
The skeleton of this remarkable horse is part of the collection of the Royal Veterinary College and was lent to the new MK Gallery in Milton Keynes last year so it could be seen alongside Stubbs’s anatomical studies of horses and his paintings of Eclipse.
With this prestigious reputation, it is hard to deny the powerful and haunting gaze of the animal in this new limited edition print by Taylor. The artist’s knowledge and understanding of the horse in addition to her experienced application to printmaking with the studio enabled the true temperament and attitude of the horse to come through.
To read more on Eclipse, take a look at our recent blog post in which Karina Sawyer speaks to the Lancashire-based painter about her practice and her application to printmaking with the studio.
