From Publishers Weekly
With extraordinary focus over 25 years, Butterfield has created sculptures with a single subject: horses. And with an introduction by Jane Smiley (A Thousand Acres), an essay by poet and art critic John Yau, poems by the late Vicki Hearne and pages of beautifully reproduced work, Butterfield comes off as a thoroughbred in the world of art. As Smiley says, "I have never met a horse lover who did not gasp at the truth of Butterfield's horses," and this catalogue, timed to coincide with a traveling exhibition of Butterfield's work, is sure to delight anyone with a passion for horses and art. Whether her works are found in steel or iron, wood, barbed wire or cast bronze, her ability to animate a pile of seemingly lifeless materials with the shape and spirit of a horse can be truly breathtaking. Particularly intriguing are the pieces made with giant metal letters-the shape of the letters transforming magically into shoulders, hocks and arched neck. Even nonbelievers will be impressed with Butterfield's technical mastery over her mediums, particularly her intricate variation on the "lost wax" method of casting bronze. Strangely, one 1979 piece cited often in the text, in which Butterfield cleverly integrated the barbed wire found on her Montana ranch, is not pictured here, but anyone with an interest in the possibilities of material, or in what constitutes form, will be pleased by this selection. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Horses have been Butterfield's totem animal and endlessly evocative subject for several decades, and she has portrayed these regal creatures with the unlikeliest of materials--mud; twigs; and, most often, junk metal--as well as exquisitely cast bronze. Each of Butterfield's horses is a distinct individual, yet each sculpture embodies the very essence of horse. Linear and gestural, her sculptures are nearly anatomical in their expressive tracing of bones, sinew, blood vessels, and nerve ganglia, and they are poetic, too, in their distillation and potent emotional valence. Also a superb horsewoman, Montana-based Butterfield couldn't ask for more simpatico documentation of her vital work than Gordon's superb monograph, the first on this major American artist. The colorplates are perfect, and the commentary brilliant. In her stirring introduction, Pulitzer Prize winner and horsewoman Jane Smiley revels in the "absolute horsiness" of Butterfield's creations. Poet John Yau writes about what a "loaded subject" horses are, and both he and Smiley consider the paradox inherent in Butterfield's use of industrial detritus to create images of living beings. Butterfield's evocative horses are studies in reclamation and reintegration, and the plexus between nature and humankind. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Deborah Butterfield transforms selected pieces of scrap iron and found wood into majestic, life-size horse sculptures that are, as art historian Wayne L. Roosa has written, "simultaneously, like ancient, noble archaeological remains, skeletal and grand." This elegant and lyrical volume presents a retrospective look at this important American artist, whose early works fashioned from wood and sticks caused a sensation at the 1979 Whitney Biennial Exhibition. The color photographs of the sculptures-the visual core of the book-have been provided by the artist and were taken in gallery installations, her studios, or her foundry. An insightful essay by the noted author and horsewoman Jane Smiley sensitively captures the depth of Butterfield's passion for horses both living and sculpted. John Yau, poet and art critic, adds a formal analysis of the artist's work, and a selection of poems by the late, noted poet Vicki Hearne, a close friend of Butterfield's, evokes the world of horses. Author Robert Gordon has followed the artist's career for a quarter century and brings unique insight to her body of work. The first major monograph on this heralded sculptor, the book is timed to coincide with exhibitions at various galleries across the country and a major retrospective at the Yellowstone Museum.

About the Author
Robert Gordon is an art consultant, a photo-grapher and filmmaker, and a widely published author who has written several books for Abrams including (with Andrew Forge) Monet, The Last Flowers of Manet, and Degas. Jane Smiley is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres and other works of fiction as well as essays and articles for many popular magazines. John Yau is a well-known poet, critic, and editor. Vicki Hearne was an animal trainer, poet, and philosopher. She died in 2001, while working on this book.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Deborah Butterfield transforms pieces of scrap metal and found wood into majestic, life-size horse sculptures that are, as art historian Wayne L. Roosa has written, "like ancient, noble archaeological remains, skeletal and grand." Her sculptures also may be the first works to explore the interior lives of horses - a long overdue answer to centuries of martial and monumental equine art.

This volume presents a retrospective look at this important American artist. At the core of the book are color photographs of the sculptures, installed in galleries, in the artist's studios, and at Walla Walla Foundry. An insightful essay by novelist and horsewoman Jane Smiley sensitively captures the depth of Butterfield's passion for horses both living and sculpted. John Yau, poet and art critic, adds a formal analysis of the artist's work. In a selection of poems, the late poet Vicki Hearne, a close friend of Butterfield's, translates this world of horse-human dialogue. Robert Gordon has followed the artist's career for a quarter century and brings unique insight and vision to her body of work.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

With extraordinary focus over 25 years, Butterfield has created sculptures with a single subject: horses. And with an introduction by Jane Smiley (A Thousand Acres), an essay by poet and art critic John Yau, poems by the late Vicki Hearne and pages of beautifully reproduced work, Butterfield comes off as a thoroughbred in the world of art. As Smiley says, "I have never met a horse lover who did not gasp at the truth of Butterfield's horses," and this catalogue, timed to coincide with a traveling exhibition of Butterfield's work, is sure to delight anyone with a passion for horses and art. Whether her works are found in steel or iron, wood, barbed wire or cast bronze, her ability to animate a pile of seemingly lifeless materials with the shape and spirit of a horse can be truly breathtaking. Particularly intriguing are the pieces made with giant metal letters-the shape of the letters transforming magically into shoulders, hocks and arched neck. Even nonbelievers will be impressed with Butterfield's technical mastery over her mediums, particularly her intricate variation on the "lost wax" method of casting bronze. Strangely, one 1979 piece cited often in the text, in which Butterfield cleverly integrated the barbed wire found on her Montana ranch, is not pictured here, but anyone with an interest in the possibilities of material, or in what constitutes form, will be pleased by this selection. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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