Giant, Surreal Horse Statues Installed At UES Park Entrance

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Three giant sculptures of surreal-looking horses will stand guard at an Upper East Side entrance to Central Park for about a year.

Sculptor Jean-Marie Appriou’s "The Horses" were installed Wednesday at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza on Fifth Avenue and East 60th Street and will remain on display through Aug. 30, 2020. The installation was commissioned by the Public Art Fund, which transformed the same plaza into a recreated Gilded Age ballroom in 2016.

Appriou, raised in rural western France, was inspired by the plaza's connection to horses. A monument of the Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman prominently features a bronze horse in Doris C. Freedman Plaza and the park is known for its horse-drawn carriage tours.

The installation is made up of three different statues, all of which highlight different features of the horse. One statue, "Les Amants au Bois," depicts an abstract interpretation of two horses meeting. The second statue, "Le Joueur," shows a horse in a relaxed position draped with a cape. Finally, "Le Guerrier" shows of the horse's muscular physique and acts as an arched entrance to Central Park.

Appriou's statues are also massive, reaching a peak height of 16 feet and length of 15 feet.

"Jean-Marie Appriou's unconventional approach to sculpture is almost alchemical," Public

Art Fund Curator Daniel S. Palmer said in a statement. "His craftsmanship is informed by a deep knowledge of the historical lineage of sculptors that have preceded him. At the same time, Appriou’s equine sculptures are otherworldly, evoking the silent majesty of horses with nuanced sculptural details that flicker between narrative and poetry."