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Published on Présences du littéraire dans l’espace public canadien (http://plepuc.org)
Source URL (retrieved on 2021-11-09 16:40): http://plepuc.org/en/artwork/four-horsemen

Four Horsemen

Four Horsemen [1]

image/jpeg iconSource: Concordia University (2010). Public Art Collection. (http://web2.concordia.ca/publicart/index.php) [2]
image/jpeg iconSource: Concordia University (2010). Public Art Collection. (http://web2.concordia.ca/publicart/index.php) [3]
Location:
Concordia University, Loyola Campus, Vanier Library, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal, QC, Canada

Artwork identification

Artwork creator(s): 
Houdé, François
Text author(s): 
MacEwen, Gwendolyn
Collaborator(s): 
Louise (his sister); Plante, Louis Pierre; Taillon, Luc; Marcoux, Gilles; Magne, Robert (support for the architect)
Installation year: 
1989
Remarks on location: 

The arwork is located at the Vanier Library, in the stairwell. The work is visible from the 1st to the 3rd floor. A skylight provides natural light.

Description: 

Composed of about 300 industrial glass blocks, this work is the last of the artist's works known as the Ming Series. Using horses as a pretext to create a metaphor of building civilizations, Houde creates a dialogue between ideas borrowed from the history of literature, art and science: sandcasted glass depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Albrecht Durer; a metal arch representing a Medieval church portal; sandblasted glass simulating a fragment of the Partehnon frieze; and a movement study by Eadweard Muybridge.

Text of the artwork: 
Go and tell: It is morning,
And this horse with a mane the colour of sea foam
Is the first horse that the world has ever seen.
The white horse which stands now watching you
Across this field of endless sunlight

                          -Gwendolyn MacEwen

Artwork theme: 
Medieval Chinese funerary art that worships horses.
History: 
Part of the Ming series

Dimensions:

Remarks: 
Mural: 2.75 x 6.5m
Artist's biography: 
Francois Houde [4]
Author's biography: 
Gwendolyn MacEwen [5]
Owner(s): 
Concordia University
  • share [6]
  • Printer-friendly version [7]
  • Fr [8]


Links:
[1] http://plepuc.org/en/artwork/four-horsemen
[2] http://plepuc.org/sites/plepuc.org/files/FrançoisHoudé_Série Ming1_0.jpg
[3] http://plepuc.org/sites/plepuc.org/files/FrançoisHoudé_Série Ming_0.jpg
[4] http://web2.concordia.ca/publicart/works/houde.php
[5] http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/macewen/index.htm
[6] http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php
[7] http://plepuc.org/en/print/399
[8] http://plepuc.org/fr/oeuvre/four-horsemen