Horse Scratching

Amory Coffin Simons

1910 · Bronze · The American Wing

Throughout his career, Simons specialized in animal statuettes. The horse was Simons’s favorite, and he portrayed it often, relying on intimate scale to focus on behavioral characteristics. "Horse Scratching," modeled and cast in Paris, is an amusing study of the animal’s attempt to scratch its head with its rear hoof. Traces of a greenish blue patina suggest that Simons was experimenting with the color of this cast, a reflection of an interest he shared with fellow American expatriate sculptor Paul Wayland Bartlett.

Artist

Amory Coffin Simons

Date

1910

Medium

Bronze

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of the artist, 1948