[From the catalogue-in-progress for “Landscapes & Livestock”, a loan exhibition for Agincourt Homecoming in the Fall of 2015]
WHAITE, H. Clarence [1895–1978]
“Maiden and Horse”
1920s
pastel or charcoal on paper / image 13.5 inches by 13.5 inches
Not to be confused with his distant cousin Henry Clarence Whaite (1828-1912), this H.C.W. studied art from the age of fourteen at the Manchester Evening Schools and then on scholarship at the renowned Slade School in London. Choosing a subject more contemporary with his older cousin, Whaite’s sketch shows a woman and horse in the spirit of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of the 1860s and 70s, long before he birth. A study for a larger work, this might have become part of a mural or a mosaic, a metal casting or even stained glass.
“Maiden and Horse” was donated to the Community Collection in the 1950s by Edith Gladden who, with her husband Monroe, had operated a gallery and frame shop in Agincourt. A note on the accession form states the piece had been shipped from an English gallery as packing material for other works. Notified of their “error” the British gallery graciously declined the offer of its return.