1985
Bronze
60 x 52cm
Edition 2 of 9

Provenance:

Waddington gallery, London, 1987

Private collection, United Kingdom

This present piece “Robed Rider” stands out in Frink’s oeuvre for a number of reasons. Unlike nearly all her previous horsemen, this one is clothed, and his face and general attitude appear more naturalistic than the somewhat anatomically distorted archetypes of humanity which she had created for decades prior. The horse, too, has the same feeling of realism, although it is hard to identify it as a specific breed (Frink had no interest in studying anatomy or representing individual animal species; her goal was to capture the essence of the animal and its authentic spirit). One feels as though one is in the presence of a real person and a real animal. Frink never spoke about the meaning behind this piece, but the overall impression is of symbiosis – two beings whose fates are entwined. There is no suggestion of tack, no coercion of the animal. Both figures are entirely at rest, pausing in their journey of unknown location and duration. The art historian and critic, Edward Lucie-Smith (a close friend of Frink), theorised that this sculpture may have been inspired by her third husband, Alex Csáky:  

Czáky came from an aristocratic Hungarian family; the history of Hungary was, so to speak, in his blood. Horseman could be read as a representation of a nomadic Magyar rider, roaming the Hungarian plains, only half-civilized, always on the lookout for conquest. 

 The piece was first modelled in 1984, with no base, under the title, Horseman. The edition was received so successfully that Frink decided to create another, adding a base to distinguish them from one another, but also to ground the figures. An example can be found in the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the plaster in the Tate.