Pat Crane Logo     The Mustang and the Cowboy in Art and Sculpture
   
 
   
Title of the Mustang Bronze sculpture shown below:  SPOOKED

The genre of Mustang horse art includes the mustang or wild horses, and often the cowboy too. The mustang, whether Kiger or Spanish, or Pryor Mountain Mustang, portrayed by today's artists, is a reflection of the mustang's inspiration to everyone world wide. The mustang and the cowboy represent living history, they represent endurance, and the spirit of freedom. Seeing with your own eyes, the majestic mustang in motion is breathtaking. The dependence of our modern breeds,  and their everyday association with man has changed their bodily expressions of freedom, while the wild mustang embodies the essence of the more natural horses in a world that once was.
 
The Mustang Horse Art displayed below (sorry, the cowboy got left out) is also on display at the International Museum at the Kentucky Horse Park, along with 2 life size sculptures on the grounds of the park.  Crane's bronzes are museum quality and a few of her works can be viewed on this website.


Spooked
Photo By Serena Landis

Spooked

Museum quality Mustang bronze edition of 15 - email or call for current pricing.
***Must be shipped by art transport. Cost is determined by distance

The cowboy genre Western sculpture measures 20 inches high x 20 inches long x
10 inches deep, mounted on walnut base.

This powerful work portrays a moment of explosive action...the
quail and mustang have spooked each other! The mustang twists to
the side, cantilevered by the power of driving hindquarters, his face
and body clearly expressing the mustang's instinctive reaction to possible danger.


Email Patricia (765-288-0484)
 


Mustang horse art has long been associated with the remnants of the original cowboy culture in American and is reflected in this North American art tradition of the West (as well it should be). Yet the art inspired by depictions of the cowboy or cowhorse and especially the Mustang, holds an even larger symbol for us all. Patricia Crane, in a life spent with horses and with sculpture could not fail to recognized the unbridled spirit of the Mustang, their great and enduring heart and stamina and utter love of freedom.  Many a cowboy who knew the true wild mustang said that the light in the eyes of these wild ones was vastly greater than that of  even the Thoroughbreds.

Although the mustang by definition was wild, the cowboy and Indian were both known in the early days to admire, capture and ride the wild ones. The mustang, the early Indian and the cowboy too, were all part of a world that has changed radically.  It is no wonder that the Western genre of Indian, cowboy, and mustang horse art came into being to depict what was and is seen as the romance as well as the splendor of this time period in history.  Of course the mustang of the older time period does not truly exist today.  The life style of the cowboy has changed somewhat too, along with much else in the world. 

The word mustang derives from a Spanish word meaning "stray", and that is precisely how the wild herds of mustangs grew and flourished, away from mankind.  It was a time of horses, and the mustang was part of it all,  including the Indians, settlers, eventual mustang hunters of all kinds, and the cowboy.

Attempts are in place to preserve remnants of the mustang, along with the name, and they are being bred under private ownership today, at the same time the descendents of the wild mustang herds are being reduced.  The cowboy of today is a bit tamer too, although they might not say so themselves!

Return to Bronze Sculpture Gallery

Or view Four Decades of  Art by Patricia Crane

Other bronze sculpture links, with sculpture titles, are as follows:


3 Gaited Saddlebred Bronze Sculpture (Accolade)  Saddlebred Bronze: Horse Sculpture (After The Class)   Bronze Horse Sculpture (Caliburn)  American Saddlebred Horse Art (Criterion)   Sporting Art: Thoroughbred Bronze Horse Sculpture (Cooling Down)  Filly Bronze Sculptures: Horse Decor (The Filly)  Horse Sculptures (The Gathering)   Harness Ponies: horse Decor Bronze Sculpture (Man on the Town)   Bronze Statues Sculpture (Odyssey)  Bronze Horse: American Saddlebred Sculpture (The Phoenix)   Harness Pony: Horse Decor (Risin Tide)   Thoroughbred Art: Horse Racing Art Sculpture (Handicap Horse)  Fine Harness: Bronze Horse Sculpture (Triumph)  Life Size Horse Sculpture (Supreme Sultan for American Saddle Horse Museum)

© All Photos and Sculpture Copyright 2000 - 2010, Patricia Crane.