Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
"Robert Backston, graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1959 and later worked for the Parma City School District as an art teacher until he retired in 1997. He received his M.A. degree from Kent State University, where he studied under William McGill, a former Purdue professor, as well as Frank N. Wilcox and Elmer Ladislaw Novotny. Backston later worked with McGill after and offered his lithographs as payment for use of McGill’s studio. McGill later donated the prints to Purdue.
Backston depicts an unusual back view of three horses standing at a hitching post on a ranch. In Western life, horses symbolized freedom, strength, and grace, and they often are depicted running or galloping. Stationary horses are less common. The horses are fitted with saddles as if to be taken out to ride, and their tails sway nervously as they wait. The fairly barren terrain suggests they are standing in a grassy area while the light from the right caused dark shadows to be cast on the ground. The modeling helps to define the musculature of the horse’s legs and flanks. The detailed rendering of the animals is created through the lithographic technique. Similar black and white lithographs were created by Thomas Hart Benton, whose Running Horses was produced in 1955, just thirteen years before Backston completed Glistening Hides.
Backston’s works are notable for the artist’s skilled use of the lithographic technique. Backston favors the subtle formal effects of this medium. His realistic style models forms three dimensionally and gives a sense of perspective. This manner appears in other works of his, such as Valley of the Tetons and Garden of the Gods.
Bibliography: “Unbridled Beauty: Images of the Horse in American Art.” Resource Library Magazine (2003). Accessed Mar. 10, 2010. Backson, Robert. Phone interview by Kellye Longgood, Apr. 4, 2011
Submitted by Kelley Nordin and Susan Chang "