A collection of pencil/charcoal drawings by Anne Bullen, mainly of horses.
The art of Anne Bullen (1912-1963) tells the story of an idyllic childhood, days of sunshine and freedom, riding ponies in the English countryside.
Her sketchbooks, canvases, and rolls of drawings were re-discovered in a forgotten cupboard by her eldest daughter, Jennie Loriston- Clarke. Jennie is one of the most elegant dressage riders in English equestrian history.
Anne Bullen, who had an instinctive understanding of horses, and a phenomenal eye for their potential, co-founded The Catherston Stud in 1949 with her war hero husband, Lt. Colonel Jack Bullen. They bred ponies for children, often wild, brought in from the moors and mountains. The stud, now based in Stockbridge, Hampshire, world famous as ‘the Home of British Champions’ continues to develop and prosper under the direction of Anne’s granddaughter, Anne Dicker. Her daughter Charlotte, third-generation equestrian, has taken on the mantle of this ‘horse-mad dynasty’ as an international dressage rider.
Anne grew up with her two brothers and younger sister in Hampshire, Dorset, and the West Country, surrounded by horses and ponies, where she and her sister Rosamund, had the ‘opportunity to appreciate and sketch the countryside and all it offered.’ (Recalls Jane Holderness-Roddam, Anne’s second daughter). Her promise as an artist was quickly recognised. At 13, she travelled to Holland and Belgium on sketching holidays with her cousins. She could memorise, then draw and paint what she saw and liked in a few minutes, as people might take snapshots today.
She won the President’s Prize at the Royal Academy for the 14-15 age groups, presented by a grand Royal personage, Queen Victoria’s daughter Louise, HRH Duchess of Argyll. Many more Royal connections were to follow.
Anne was encouraged by her family, studied classical principles and techniques at the Academie Julien in Paris and Chelsea School of Art.
Her daughter Jane, a member of the GB Gold Medal winning team Mexico Olympics 1968, has vivid memories of life with a remarkable mother. ‘She appeared comfortable using pencil, pen and ink, crayon, charcoal, gouache, or a combination, as well as water colour and oils in equal measure, but she was probably most at home with her sketchbook and pencil.’
Anne married Colonel Jack Bullen in 1933, and they moved into the picture book setting of Catherston, his Elizabethan manor house in Dorset, set against a wooded backdrop, with a tiny church under a large cedar tree, endless fields of farmland and sea coast nearby. Jane describes the atmosphere of her mother’s life there as a working artist, loving matriarch, and strict riding instructor.
Anne Bullen understood equestrian anatomy as well as any of the Old Masters she revered, such as George Stubbs and Leonardo Da Vinci. She gave lectures about the evolution of The Horse to institutions and colleges, using her own anatomical drawings. She showed how correct training can develop the muscles of the neck and back to carry the weight of a rider more easily.
Critics appreciate this genuine knowledge of equestrian conformation in her art, as well as its spiritual quality. One wrote: ‘with a few flowing lines her drawings have a feeling for lightness and movement.’
+++++++++
Click on any image to go to the album. Use arrows to navigate through the album. Click on << to return to this page.
Click to return to Postcard Collecting
