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'.
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.
