Raymonde Davidson, 'guide bénévole' (docent) at The National Gallery of Canada, will be presenting The Warrior by Oscar Cahén, on June 2nd and June 9th at the National Gallery in Ottawa.
For a transcript in French, please e-mail archives@cahen.net.
An armorial historian, having reviewed Cahén's studies for The Warrior , alongside a number of wooden sculptures with an armorial theme, confirms these pieces demonstrate significant accuracy with respect to their srmorial references.
Several of the shields and helmets date to what are believed to include 13th century, mainly Portuguese armour. It is possible that some items of this period were exhibited at The ROM when Oscar lived in Toronto.
Several of the drawings present the Warrior mounted on an abstraction representing the 'foreshortened' horse. In the medals struck in this period, and particularly with respenct to paintings, horses were traditionally foreshortened to a single plane. On the right hand side of the Warrios drawings, one finds the lance being handed by the Squire to the Warrior. In the painting, the Squire is not present but the arm formation (left arm of the Warrior right hand of the picture) is consistent with these earlier drawings. In the central chest area, one finds important iconography which Oscar used as early as 1949 in his animal and rooster images (see FAO -013 Animal).
In addition to this painting, which is currently on load to the National Gallery, the NGC owns four works by Oscar Cahén acquired between 1953 and 1996.
ABOVE LEFT
FAG-050 Study for The Warrior
ink on paper
28" x 42"
ABOVE RIGHT
FAO-013 Animal
oil on masonite
20" x 24"
