The Beauty in The Beast

It’s not a real horse, of course, or even a sculpture, but a black-and-white image on rice paper painted by Pao Ching Tang between 1900 and 1912. And it’s not just any horse. The ink “rubbing,” as it is classified, shows Baitiwu, one of the six horses Emperor Taizong created for his mausoleum, Zhaoling. As far as registrarial assistant Nancy McDearmon knows, the painting has never been displayed at Sweet Briar, and there is no information in the College database indicating how or when it came to the collection. McDearmon removed the piece from storage before Christmas break to allow the scroll to relax before display. But that was just half the battle. There was no way the oversized, 50-by-76-inch image could be framed for temporary exhibit, she says.

The Taizong horse will be carefully clipped to Moore’s support frame near the center of Pannell. Everything else will flow from it, connecting thematically and crisscrossing through the gallery space. There are more horses, as well as dogs, foxes and wolves, and a separate wall dedicated to birds. From tiny, sweet creatures to big, scary beasts, from realistic to abstract, “Beauty in the Beast” seeks to show visitors every possible angle of the word “animal.” There are political cartoons, including José Guadalupe Posada’s “Calavera Huertista” depicting a skull spider meant to represent Mexico’s president and the civil unrest in 1913, and a delightful sketch of Walt Disney’s “Ostrich Ballet” from the film “Fantasia.”

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website