Arthur Spronken

'Flying Amazon' 1965 (purchased in 1967)

Location: Between the Hoofdgebouw and the Auditorium

The equine torsos by Arthur Spronken do not run, but float or stand on one leg. Gravity does not appear to affect the large, muscular animals: they dance, roll, spin, jump around in space, are one big chunk of dynamism and strength. This also applies to the 'Flying Amazon' (1965).

Spronken's grandfather is a horse dealer and his father dabbles in breeding stallions. Spronken sees the vetting, feels the big withers of horses, brushes their shining skin, hides from the rain beneath them as a child – who knows, maybe he dreams of them.

Spronken (1930) is trained for the trade. Still, between the ages of 17 and 22 he also cycles some 70 kilometers every week to make his first wooden sculptures at a friend’s house. This friend, Paul Smalbach, encourages him to go to the art academy. From 1948 to 1952 Spronken attends the School of Applied Art in Maastricht. Receiving a grant from the Italian government he follows a one-year traineeship at the Academia delle Belle Arti in Milan in 1954. He is taught by Mario Marini, a specialist in horses in sculpture. Back in the Netherlands Spronken initially makes religious figures of wood, and only in 1961 does he start working with bronze. They become dancers, elegant and full of movement. The horses come later, but the dynamism is maintained. Spronken’s horses trot, turn and rear up expressively. His sculptures are absolutely full of tension.

Within the Dutch art world Spronken has always followed his own path, against the spirit of the age of Cobra, for instance, and of abstract art. Although he has received a classical training, he allows himself far more anatomical liberties than Greek and Roman sculptors. Spronken omits parts and concentrates on the essence of the sculpture: the horses’ torsos in all their power and experience.

Sculptures

Arthur Spronken