Bronzes That Breathe

Editor's note: In just under two weeks, Spendthrift Farm will officially open its B. Wayne Hughes Visitors Center in honor of its late founder. The two-story visitors center will offer a trophy room, gift shop, and help to enhance tourists' visits to the farm. A bronze statue of the late Malibu Moon will greet guests as they arrive. The sculptor responsible for the bronze, Douwe Blumberg, gave the TDN a behind-the-scenes look at how the sculpture came together.

My professional sculpting career began over 30 years ago, following an 18-year career as a professional horse trainer in Southern California. While the vast majority of my early works were equine-related, the last decade has seen my career move more towards the large, international public-art scene. `Public art' refers to large pieces that you'd see outside capitols, corporate headquarters, etc., and while I love this type of art, I now rarely have the time to take on an equine commission.

I was therefore tremendously excited when my schedule allowed me to accept the commission from Spendthrift Farm to create a monumentally scaled memorial to Malibu Moon to be placed outside their gorgeous new visitors' center.

Having done sculptures of many different breeds, it is fascinating how important the subtle nuances of each breed are in capturing the real essence of an individual and making it feel right to their people. We were very lucky to have been able to measure him a few months before his passing which always proves exceptionally helpful. I measure on the metric scale so it's easy for me to enlarge them mathematically to whatever scale the client selects. I always encourage people to go larger, and pretty much don't do a true life-size sculpture anymore, because without that spark of life, a true life-sized bronze will always somehow appear too small.

It was a beautiful spring day when I measured him, and even in older age, his tremendous presence and masculinity was most impressive. Not only did this time allow me to gather the factual information of his measurements, but spending time with him also gave me invaluable insights into his attitude and energy, which one can't measure. It definitely informed the sculpting down the road and I believe came through into the finished work. I think that having been a horseman for so long allows me to really hone in on the little things that make each horse an individual, but are often difficult to explain.

My measurements were then used to carve a rough version from a special carving foam and once I was happy with this, we spread a half-inch thick coat of clay over the foam which then becomes my starting point. It takes a lot of heavy clay to cover a piece this large, so an internal steel structure was needed to support this clay and foam structure.

Along with the measurements, I had taken hundreds of photos which now proved their value in capturing not only this individual's musculature, but also his personality to some degree. The first thing is to lay in the basic skeletal points and then the large muscle groups followed by smaller contouring and skin details. This horse had a uniquely imperious eye and as an ex-horseman, I knew that it was vital that the eye be right or the likeness just won't feel right to me or the client.  After the clay sculpt was complete and the people at Spendthrift were happy, it was time to cut him into sections for molds to be made.

The molds are rubber and plaster assemblies that are used to make hard wax castings, or copies of my clay originals. These hard wax castings are then gone over and any casting flaws are repaired prior to being coated with a hard, heat-resistant, ceramic layer or shell.  Once completed, this ceramic shell is placed in a furnace to melt out the wax, and molten bronze is poured in. After cooling overnight, the shells are broken open and chipped away to reveal the new raw bronze casting inside.  Due to the complexity of shapes, this piece needed to be cast in a dozen sections or so.

Each bronze casting is inspected and any casting flaws are repaired, after which they are painstakingly assembled, like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle using a bronze welding rod of the identical alloy as the casting alloy used. Once assembled, he's complete, but looks rather like a Frankenstein creation with all the welded seams. Now comes many weeks of grinding metal to eliminate every seam and seamlessly blend them into the surrounding texture so that they become essentially invisible. I personally dislike too smooth of a surface treatment as I feel it makes the animal look plastic. I like to leave a slight, vibrant texture that captures to some degree the sculptor's spontaneous work, and sometimes even fingerprints. This metal-working is known in the art world as chasing the metal.

Assembling the parts in his studio | courtesy Douwe Blumberg

Once fully assembled and finished, the piece is sandblasted which prepares it for the next and final stage, the color application. A metal coloring is called a patina. There are many methods of applying this color, but the one we use is a very old-school method involving chemicals applied to the metal surface while it is very hot. With torches playing over the bronze, various chemicals are sprayed and brushed on to create depth and then color. These chemicals, unlike paint, actually alter the color of the metal itself so it becomes permanent and long-lasting, as long as it is maintained correctly.

A special wax is applied to the surface while it is still hot so that it melts into the surface of the metal and completely coats it.  Upon cooling, this wax coating is polished to a high sheen and the sculpture is finally finished and ready for installation.

Installation day at Spendthrift was an absolutely perfect early fall day and everything went flawlessly. A waiting crane carefully lifted the piece from the flatbed trailer and lowered it onto the specially prepared base outside the visitors' center.

Douwe Blumberg photo

Malibu Moon stands facing the stallion barn and the pasture he famously ruled during his long stay at Spendthrift. After my team had left and things quieted down, I sat on the grass, relaxed and took it in.   After almost a year of work, it felt wonderful that the piece was successfully installed and worked so perfectly with the site. It is always an honor to help memorialize a life, whether human or animal. This piece proved exceptionally fulfilling because as I sat there, he seemed so lifelike that I half expected him to toss his head, give a snort and step off to go join some friends.