Saint Albans Steeplechase 1837

Editor: This is Charles Hunt's "Saint Albans Steeplechase" from 1837, using mixed media, including watercolor, drawing and print on paper. There's a lot happening - horses racing and falling, people cheering... it’s quite chaotic! What stands out to you? Curator: For me, it’s the confluence of class, labor, and spectacle vividly depicted. This "genre-painting," as it is tagged, is far more than just a sporting scene. Consider the paper itself, its production a direct result of industrial advances. How does the relatively accessible medium of mixed media prints, compare with traditional oil paintings portraying wealthy landowners at leisure? Editor: So, the choice of material democratizes the image itself, making it accessible beyond the elite depicted in the scene? Curator: Precisely. This print invites a wider audience to consume the image of the steeplechase. Note the labour inherent not only in the event itself – the training of the horses, the jockey’s skill, but also in the creation of this image. Do you notice a tension between Romanticism and social commentary? Editor: I see what you mean. The sweeping landscape evokes Romantic ideals, but the focal point is this risky spectacle fuelled by both animal and human exertion, and readily consumable entertainment for the public on display. Curator: The 'spirited' Romantic portrayal clashes head-on with the realities of work and risk inherent in the sporting life. And the ‘means of production’ here are tied up in colonial structures that supplied, for example, the pigment for this very image, and facilitated the financial systems on which these spectacles depended. Editor: It's fascinating how analyzing the materials used provides so much insight! Curator: Indeed! By shifting our focus to process and materiality, we start to unpack complex relationships of power, labour and social practice. I’ll be looking at images quite differently from now on!