The Race

Baroness Kathe Olshausen-Schonberger

Artist, illustrator, author Kathe Olshausen-Schonberger was already noted for her animal caricatures by age 20, creating a series of anthropomorphised books and illustrations for children and as sly social comments. Beyond these she also created works that displayed her knowledge of the animal musculature, as displayed in this drypoint "The Race".

In order to capture the drama of this action the artist utelizes the intaglio technique of drypoint, which involves engraving directly onto the copper plate and allowing the "burr", the displaced copper, to create a kind of "furrow" and print as a dark, fuzzy line.

Two race horses and jockeys are engaged in a neck and neck race to the finish line. Both horses are defined by deep black shadows with the light shining off the surfaces, a sort of "notan" design with few distinct lines. The dense, fuzzy lines of the drypoint soften the surfaces, creating the feeling of the both the horse's coat and a movement to the composition.

The jockeys on the other hand are created by line and light with the result being a static, coiled energy that is trying to control the power beneath.