Riders on the Mountain
Date1956
Label TextKenneth Callahan was employed by Director Fuller as his right hand man at the Seattle Art Museum for almost twenty years, beginning soon after the new institution opened its doors in Volunteer Park. Callahan watched and listened as Dr. Fuller brought into the collection iconic Tang dynasty horses and calligraphic animal studies, such as those of artist Katsushika Hokusai. As he saw them at such close proximity, Callahan’s imagination must have been piqued—the images became animated and unleashed as mythic wild horses or as ambiguous figures of riders in the wilderness.
Object number56.284
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Coming to Life, The Figure in American Art 1955-1965, Feb. 25 - June 13, 1999.
Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, What It Meant to Be Modern: Seattle Art at Mid-Century, Oct.15, 1999 - Jan. 23, 2000.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Mark Tobey: Smashing Forms and Mark Tobey and Friends, Nov. 16, 2002 - April 6, 2003.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: The Mythic and the Mystical, June 19 - Sept. 7, 2014. Text by Patricia Junker. No cat. no., p. 39, reproduced p. 40, pl. 18.
Published ReferencesThe Art Quarterly, Spring 1957, p. 103
Kingsbury, Martha and Sarah Clark. "Northwest Traditions." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1978, p. 45Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions21 x 35 1/2 in. (53.3 x 90.2 cm)
MediumOil on canvas
Greek
ca. 490-480 B.C.
Object number: 63.66