Amazon on horseback

Artist Arthur Spronken (1930-2018) is regarded as the forefather of sculptors in Limburg. He was a small man who made big sculptures – impressive sculptures, though he never blew his own trumpet. In his youth, Spronken was influenced both by his father’s and grandfather’s love of horses and by the sculptor Paul Schmalbach. He trained as a trader, but in the end attended the Kunstnijverheidsschool (School of Applied Arts) in Maastricht, where he was taught by Charles Vos and Harry Koolen, among others. Arthur Spronken’s horse torsos reveal the dynamic of the body. This dynamic becomes such a significant aspect in his later horse torsos that he only depicts the initial thrust of the legs, the beginnings of the movement that takes place in the torso. Although the horse became a recurring element in his oeuvre from 1962 onwards, his works do not depict a realistic horse. Spronken focused exclusively on the horse torso; he depicts nothing more than the body, the buttocks, and the neck.