Standing Horse

Inscription: Rather than residing eternally in the stable, chasing loneliness, he sees the dust in the wind moving across the vast desert and the white grass at harvest height. He is determined to follow the source of the river; the horse will defeat all he meets. He pauses in his galloping, but he will never die and never shirk his duty. Staying in Xinghai in May 1939, Beihong. For my beloved wife, Jingwen, to keep.
Seal: “Descended from the King of the Eastern Sea” (Rectangular seal with incised characters) and “Unconcerned about retiring a sage” (Square seal with relief characters)

Horses were one of Xu Beihong’s favorite themes, and one of the subjects he painted most frequently.

He often painted standing or galloping horses, and very seldom painted reclining horses. He tended to paint slender warhorses, rather than well-fed leisure horses. None of his horses have saddles or reins; they gallop on the vast plains. They are tenacious, unrestrained, brave, high-spirited, and heroic, but they at times conveyed the artist’s hope or anger, or had other symbolic meanings. Xu Beihong’s horse paintings can be divided into three types.

The first type is comprised of solemn warhorses that are either galloping across the battlefield or yearning to do so. Most of his horses fall into this type.

The second type is directly related to an event, whether conveying hope or praising a victory.

The third type is a heavenly horse with joyous, uplifting undertones. This type was primarily used as the end of the war approached, but New China had yet to be established. This type of horse most often faces the viewer with four hooves in the air, as if it had just flown in from a distant horizon. These horses were particularly otherworldly. Prior to this type, the inscriptions had a solemn air, but they were replaced by happier, more optimistic, and rousing sentiments.
-Hua Tianxue