Auction action is a lot like gambling; you pick a winner and go up against others who want to win. Only this time, you’re the one who pays instead of getting paid. Unless you decide to resell the object. Art is often like that… Buy it now and hope it’s an investment with a payout after years of enjoying it. So in that sense, an art auction containing works with horse racing themes is nearly a trifecta.
Over at Inherited Values I read about Freeman’s Modern and Contemporary Art auction (to be held this Saturday, May 12, 2012) where I found two very simple and elegant — yet very different — horse racing works of art up for sale.
There’s a vintage Jacques Villion piece which bears the same title and compositional qualities to several paintings the artist made in 1921 and 1922 depicting horse racing and jockeys.
Jacques Villion Horse Racing Art
The other stand out is Raoul Dufy’s Les Courses A Deauville.
Raoul Dufy's Les Courses A Deauville
Aside from money, the question is, do I prefer angles or round curves?
Normally, this girl goes for curves, but the Jacques Villion work really speaks (or is that “whinnies”?) to me.