Landscape with a Running Horse 1990

Curator: David Ligare's "Landscape with a Running Horse," painted in 1990, presents an interesting intersection of romanticism and realism. My first reaction is one of tranquility disrupted, ironically, by the action of the horse. The composition feels carefully constructed, almost staged. Editor: The subject of the white horse resonates with narratives of power and privilege, steeped in complex social and political meaning. What I find striking is how the animal cuts through a fabricated, idyllic landscape, almost a dreamlike space removed from lived experiences of inequality and social conflict. Curator: I can see that reading. However, the tonal palette is rather restricted. Note the careful gradations in the sky, the modulation of light on the horse’s flank, and the precise reflection in the water. It almost evokes a sense of yearning and nostalgia by creating the perfect picture using balance, harmony, and restraint. Editor: I see how the classical idealism in Ligare’s landscape invites one to project the anxieties of a post-Cold War America onto the composition. Where is this horse running to? What lies beyond the pristine valley, the idealized temple ruin in the background? Does the painting comment on the United States’s continued dominance in the global order? Curator: Interesting points! And yet the painting operates in its way using principles of formalism. What is interesting is how the balance and harmonious juxtaposition between Romanticism and Realism opens to something complex and contemporary, like our conversation now. Editor: That’s exactly it— the conversation, not a conclusion, but a point to consider art's role to society and culture during such a turbulent period. Curator: Absolutely. Ligare masterfully encourages these lines of investigation through classical pictorial organization with modern eyes. Editor: And by critically interrogating those narratives we start unpacking power, knowledge and what really counts within our global interactions and shared humanity.