Page 52 - The Hunt - Winter 2023/24
P. 52
The Spiritual
and thePhysical
In the Brandywine Valley, there’s probably no animal more sculpted than the horse—and the subject can be a challenging one for even the most skilled artist.
BY ROGER MORRIS PHOTOS BY JIM GRAHAM
On a hazy Saturday morning this past spring, Ukrainian-born sculptor Julia Levitina has driven from Philadelphia to Greenville
to take part in a reception at Somerville Manning Gallery for Under the Influence: Contemporary Artists and the Masters Who Inspired Them. Levitina has multiple works featured in the group exhibition. She pauses beside two pieces, the larger one, “Don’t Wake Juniper,” depicting a horse at rest—yet not totally so. There are small angled wings on the animal’s shoulders. At the
end of an exaggerated, looping neck, the head is bowed,
ears jutting forward like the horns of a bull ready to attack. “I realized when I was working in the wax that I still had something to say,” Levitina says.
50 THE HUNT MAGAZINE winter 2023-24
