Solon H. Borglum, born Ogden, UT - Tamed - n.d. - T-Shirt

A pencil study of a saddled horse, head lowered, standing still on a long rectangular base.

Visual Elements & Composition

The horse faces left in profile, filling the centre of an off-white sheet. Graphite grey shading describes the flank and underside, while loose hatching and a fall of mane along the neck give the animal its weight. The saddle and girth are drawn cleanly across the back, and the hooves sit firmly on the plinth at the lower edge. The composition is spare: a single figure, open paper around it, and the pencil inscription Tamed written below the base, with the artist's name on its front face.

Meaning & Symbolism

The title frames the horse as a moment after training, its head lowered and its body still once control has been won. Images of working and broken horses were central to the American frontier subjects that drew many sculptors of the period. The fixed pose on a plinth reads as a sculptural study, the kind an artist made to settle silhouette and balance before modelling in three dimensions. The drawing comes from Solon Hannibal Borglum (1868-1922), born in Ogden, Utah, who became known for bronzes of horses and frontier subjects, and who was the brother of Gutzon Borglum, later associated with Mount Rushmore.

Built for the Horse in the Drawing

Across a shirt, the horse keeps its quiet profile and low head, sitting across the chest where the eye lands first. The plinth line and the pale paper give the design clean edges, so the stillness of the drawing carries over to the wearer's torso without any added decoration.