Man
and his horse.
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| THE MUSTANGS OF LAS COLINAS |
You’ll
know you’ve arrived at Las Colinas when you spot the working Flower Clock
at Highway 114 and O’Connor Road. The clock is covered with fresh flowers
and blooms throughout the year.
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FLOWER
CLOCK WELCOMES YOU TO LAS COLINAS
|
Throughout
history, a love affair has raged between man and his horse. Wherever you
might wander, you will be hard pressed to find a city center or village square
without its hero on his horse. But nowhere in the world is there a
sculpture that comes close to the free-spirited, breathtakingly realistic
bronzes that appear to be snorting, through flared nostrils, as they splash
through a stream of water in the midst of a granite office complex in Las
Colinas, Texas. This 1973 master-planned business and residential
development within Irving, Texas includes office and convention space,
more than 20 hotels, and is home to the world headquarters of many
companies.
The
tourist area, with its potpourri of shops, galleries, and restaurants is an
ersatz mini-Venice, complete with gondoliers steering boats up and
down the Mandalay Canal that connects to Lake Carolyn.
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| MANDALAY CANAL |
The
Mustangs of Las Colinas, the worlds, largest equestrian sculpture, is located
at Williams Square. The centerpiece of this plaza, opened to the public
on September 25, 1984, is nine larger than life-size horses that pay tribute to
the heritage of Texas…not only the geographical Texas, but also a Texas
personified by free-spirited individuals and entrepreneurs.
This
monumental sculpture, memorializing the distinctive people of Texas is
dedicated to a people committed to freedom of action, initiative, and
expression. And no one Texan exemplifies the spirit of the Lone Star
State better than Ben H. Carpenter, the developer of Las Colinas.
First,
Carpenter created the methodically planned Las Colinas, transforming the open
grassland of the past into the urbanized community of the future. Once
that was done, he envisioned a grand plaza that would serve as a gathering
place for new generations of Texans.
Carpenter
named the plaza Williams Square, after his sister and brother-in-law Carolyn
and Dan Williams. Then he determined that the plaza (larger than two
football fields) would be paved in Texas pink granite, the same granite used to
face the three office towers flanking it.
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| WILLIAMS SQUARE |
To
the Texas tycoon, no subject seemed more appropriate for the plaza’s sculpture
than the wild mustangs that once roamed across his land. To Carpenter,
they were an integral part of Texas history.
“These
horses,” wrote Texas scholar J. Frank Dobie, “bore Spanish explorers across two
continents. They brought to the plains Indians the age of horse
culture. Texas cowboys rode them to extend the ranching occupation clear
to the plains of Alberta.
Spanish
horse, Texas cow pony, and mustang were all one in those times when, as the
sayings went, a man was no better than his horse, and a man on foot was no man
at all. Like the longhorn, the mustang has been virtually bred out of
existence.”
In
the summer of 1976…to design, create, sculpt and supervise casting and
installation of the sculpture that would bring the mustang back into
existence…Carpenter hired the internationally renowned East African wildlife
sculptor Robert Glen.
For
the sculptor, born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, a year of preliminary research
of the wild horses was the first step in this gargantuan project that would
ultimately consume the better part of a decade. Glen devoured books and
historical periodicals to further his understanding of the magnificent creatures
that sired the original wild horses of Texas.
In
his research, Glen discovered that the horses presently living in the preserves
and parks reflected a crossbreeding unlike the original Andalusian breed
brought by the Spanish to the American continents. To search for
authenticity, Glen was sent to southern Spain, the only area in the world where
purebred descendants of the Andalusian horse still survive. He spent many
weeks studying the Andalusian horse.
The
second step in the birth of The Mustangs of Las Colinas began when Glen
returned home to Nairobi. From the mood and concept given him, Glen
constructed some 47 small-scale model horses in a variety of positions and
motions. After larger working models were made, Glen and Carpenter selected
the final nine horses that would be reproduced at one-and-a-half times
life-size.
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THE
MUSTANGS
|
The
next stage took Robert Glen, his five mares, two stallions, and two colts to
the Morris Singer Foundry in Basingstoke, England. The world famous
foundry, a one hour drive from central London, is renowned for utilizing
British, French and Belgian artisans to cast such works as the Lions of
Trafalgar Square and the art of such famous sculptors as Henry Moore, Jacob
Epstein and Barbara Hepworth.
During
several of the years in which the mustangs were being created, cast, and
covered with a life-like bronze skin, the final stage was being set in Irving,
Texas. With the granite-clad, copper-roofed buildings well under way,
landscape architect and planning engineer James Reeves designed the plan for
the granite prairie and rippling stream the mustangs would be crossing.
Eight
years after the project was conceived, thousands flocked to see nine living
bronzes galloping across a pebble-finished streambed. A concealed
fountain spray system suggests the splashing of water around the horses’ hooves
as they cross midstream. The horses themselves suggest the spirit and
vitality that is Texas.
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| YOUNG AND OLD FLOCK TO SEE THE HORSES |
Four
years later (August 1, 1988), the Mustang Sculpture Exhibit opened in the
adjacent museum at Williams Square. This museum/gift shop features a
short documentary film that depicts the history of the mustang and how the
Mustangs of Las Colinas were created.
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| MUSEUM DEPICTS THE HISTORY OF THE MUSTANGS |
In
addition, there are several “working models” of the horses used in the creation
of the full-sized bronzes by Robert Glen. Also on display are several of
Glen’s limited edition sculptures many of which have graced the private
collections of such notables as Queen Elizabeth II, his Highness the Aga Khan,
the late president of Kenya and the late actor James Stewart.
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| MODELS OF HORSES IN MUSEUM |
Returning
to my car, still hypnotized by the startling mustangs, I thought about
extinction. At that moment in time it seemed that Ben Carpenter and
Robert Glen had truly saved the stunning creatures from extinction.
Pulsating
bronze replaced warm flesh as the words of J. Frank Dobie came to mind:
“But mustang horses will alway symbolize western frontiers, long trails of
longhorn herds, seas of pristine grass, and men riding free on a free land.”
JANET
STEINBERG is an award-winning Travel Writer and a Travel Consultant with the
Travel Authority in Mariemont, Ohio
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