François Houde
Four Horsemen, 1989
Medium: Industrial glass boxes, metal
Dimensions: 650 cm
Patron: Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine
Restored in 2016 with the assistance of the 'Fonds du patrimoine culturel québécois du gouvernement du Québec'.
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About the Artwork
Composed of about 300 industrial glass blocks, this work is the last of his works known as the Ming Series. Using horses as a pretext to create a metaphor of building civilizations, Houde creates a dialogue between ideas borrowed from the history of literature, art and science: sandcasted glass depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Albrecht Durer; a metal arch representing a Medieval church portal; sandblasted glass simulating a fragment of the Parthenon frieze; and a movement study by Eadweard Muybridge. He also includes a text:
Go and tell: It is morning,
And this horse with a mane the colour of sea foam
Is the first horse that the world has ever seen.
The white horse which stands now watching you
Across this field of endless sunlight
- Gwendolyn MacEwen
About the Artist
A world leader in glass art, François Houde was the first Canadian to be invited to the International Glass Symposium in former Czechoslovakia in 1988.
Artwork Location
Campus: Loyola
Location: Vanier Library, Stairwell
Address: 7141 Sherbrooke St. W.