Tessa Pullan Geograph-1422381-by-Keith-Edkins

Tessa Pullan from Rutland, (born 1953) is an English sculptor.

Biography

Horseman on the Black Country Route - geograph

National Sporting Library and Civil War Horse sculpture by Tessa Pullan

Pullan was from 1971 to 1974 in France apprenticed to the sculptor

John Skeaping John Rattenbury Skeaping, RA (9 June 1901 – 5 March 1980) was an English sculptor and equine painter and sculptor. He designed animal figures for Wedgwood, and his life-size statue of Secretariat is exhibited at the National Museum of R ...

and then gained a diploma from 1974 to 1977 at the

City and Guilds of London Art School Founded in 1854 as the Lambeth School of Art, the City and Guilds of London Art School is a small specialist art college located in central London, England. Originally founded as a government art school, it is now an independent, not-for-profit ...

. She studied from 1977 to 1980 from the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

in London. Her first exhibition took place in 1976 at London's

Guildhall Art Gallery The Guildhall Art Gallery houses the art collection of the City of London, England. The museum is located in the Moorgate area of the City of London. It is a stone building in a semi-Gothic style intended to be sympathetic to the historic Guild ...

. In 1980 she started her first studio. The philanthropist and horse breeder

Paul Mellon Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 1, 1999) was an American philanthropist and an owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall ...

commissioned the Civil War Horse for the National Sporting Library and Museum in

Middleburg, Virginia Middleburg is a town in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 673 as of the 2010 census. It is the southernmost town along Loudoun County's shared border with Fauquier County. Middleburg is known as the "Nation's Horse an ...

, honouring the horses and mules who died during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Her bust of Mellon is in the National Portrait Gallery. She is now one of Britain's leading animal sculptors, working in a variety of media, but mainly bronze and wood. She also produces portraits. The artist has a studio in

Barrowden Barrowden is a village in Rutland in the East Midlands of England. ] The village's name means 'burial-mound hill'. There are a number of Tumulus, barrows in the area. The population of the civil parish was 506 at the 2011 census. There is ...

, Rutland since 1990 and studios in Sandwich, Aberystwyth and Berkhamsted. She is a member of the

Society of Equestrian Artists A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

Equine Sculptures

The racehorse,

Sea Hero Sea Hero (foaled March 4, 1990 – July 12, 2019) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1993 Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes. Beginning in 2011, Sea Hero was the oldest living winner of the Kentucky Derby unt ...

, won the Kentucky Derby in 1993 and Pullan was tasked with creating a sculpture of him at the National Sporting Library and Museum. Created in bronze, the horse is over 7 ft and 2 tons in weight. The 1996 "Horse and Rider" galvanised steel statue on the Black Country Route, Wolverhampton was commissioned by Wolverhampton City Council. Pullan carved the sculpture using wood and then the model was scaled up and produced in steel by Arden Fabrications of Knowle. Pullan was given instructions by Paul Mellon to make a bronze, three-quarter size statue of a Civil War Horse. As part of her research, she contacted the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for images of abused horses to influence the oppressive appearance of the statue. On 17 September 1997, the statue was unveiled by the Virginia Historical Society.

Some works

* Untitled (1977)

Gonville Place Gonville Place is a road (part of the A603) in southeast central Cambridge, England.Gonvi ...

in Cambridge * 1993 Kentucky Derby winner

(1993),

Rokeby Stables Rokeby Stables was an American thoroughbred racehorse breeding farm in Upperville, Virginia, involved with both steeplechase and flat racing. The operation was established in the late 1940s by Paul Mellon (1907–1999) who won the Eclipse Award f ...

, Upperville in Fauquier County, Virginia * Civil War Horse (1997): 1,

National Sporting Library The National Sporting Library & Museum or NSLM (formerly the National Sporting Library) is a research library and art museum in Middleburg, Virginia in the United States. History The National Sporting Library was founded in 1954 in the personal ...

in Middleburg, Virginia; 2,

U.S. Cavalry Museum The U.S. Cavalry Museum is a museum located on Fort Riley in Fort Riley, Kansas, United States. The Museum Division is responsible for exhibiting and interpreting the history of Fort Riley from its establishment to the present, to include its var ...

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Gear ...

, Kansas; and 3,

Virginia Historical Society The Virginia Museum of History and Culture founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history. It is a private, n ...

in Richmond, Virginia * Horse and Rider,

Black Country Route The Black Country Route is a road in the West Midlands region of England. Original plans for an urban motorway were drawn up in 1962 to ease congestion in the Black Country towns of Bilston and Willenhall, as well as giving the residents of Dud ...

Bilston Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...

External links

Artist website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pullan, Tessa 1953 births English sculptors Equine artists British modern sculptors People from Rutland Living people