Artist: William McElcheran
Bronze
9' high
In Business Man on a Horse, William McElcheran
presented us with the now famous figure of his befuddled businessman awkwardly
seated on his "trusted steed." The work seems to bring the
viewer into a kind of shared compassionate joke. McElcheran's
self-important businessman has trouble seeing himself as the contemporary
descendant of the triumphant returning war leaders of the past, who would be
the traditional subject of a historic horse-and-rider sculpture. As many
critics have noted however, McElcheran's subjects are not just the target
of his jokes, they are also under his protection: "We get a sharp sense
that each of these figures is cared for by the sculptor, wrapped in an unseen
cocoon and that we, as viewers, are being asked to care for them too."
About William McElcheran
He was born in 1927 in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1947 he
graduated from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto and was awarded the
Lieutenant Governor's Medal. As the chief designer for Bruce Brown and
Brisely Architects, he planned and designed 23 churches and university
buildings. In 1973 he formed Deaduls Designs, a company dedicated to the
integration of decorative sculpture within architectural planning. His famous
businessmen with pork pie hats are found in corporate collections all over the
world and reflect his philosophy of "New Humanism" in both style and
utility. He has produced public commissions in Canada, the USA, Germany, Italy,
and Japan. William McElcheran was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy. He
died in 1998.