Studies of horses 

Curator: These "Studies of Horses" by August Lucas, residing here at the Städel Museum, are quite captivating. Rendered in graphite and pencil, they offer a fascinating glimpse into the artist's process. What are your immediate thoughts? Editor: They're ghostly. Light, airy… unfinished in the best way. It feels like witnessing a thought in charcoal, barely tethered to the page. The multiple views create a kind of fragmented motion, a study not just of form but of fleeting possibility. Curator: Exactly! The medium reinforces that sense of ephemerality. Pencil and graphite lend themselves to sketches, studies – preliminary investigations. Consider how the ready availability and affordability of these materials democratized artistic exploration in this era. It moves away from grand oil paintings to focus on the simple labor and preliminary steps. Editor: Yes, I love that aspect. It suggests a kind of backstage pass to the artist's mind. I imagine Lucas, pacing around the stables, capturing these powerful animals in rapid strokes. You feel the immediacy. There's also this intriguing vulnerability to the sketch itself; it's fragile, precious almost, like catching a whisper. Curator: Precisely, the inherent 'preciousness' lies not in a display of masterful finishing, but in the captured, observed moment of creative work. Furthermore, what these 'studies' suggest about equestrian culture – and labor and capital linked to horse power - is interesting. Editor: Interesting you use that word, 'labour'. These aren't romanticized steeds from a battlefield. We see ordinary horses, working animals. The casual positioning lends them such humbleness. There is no attempt to conceal how utterly… practical their purpose must have been to Lucas and to those who observed him drawing in the fields. Curator: The lack of pretense, coupled with readily accessible materials, positions art production closer to the realm of craft, blurring traditional hierarchical boundaries. Editor: Ultimately, I read these less as 'studies' and more as an exercise of intimate and genuine understanding. And like a whispered confidence, it is made more significant due to its brevity. It’s beautiful. Curator: I concur, I have a richer understanding myself. A valuable glimpse into artistic practice that reframes production.