Like many people, before we moved to New York in 2009 we didn’t realize just how big the state is —and just how far away New York City is from where we would be living. It was quite a drive from our new home in the Finger Lakes to “The Big Apple”, but we’re forever glad that in February 2019 we made a special effort to make a visit. One of our stops was to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the other was to see one very specific piece of equestrian art—the American’s Response Monument, also known as El Opresso Liber.
Sculpted by artist Douwe Blumberg, it’s unlike any other equestrian monument I’ve seen. Most show the horse and rider in very noble and elegant positions, while this piece is dynamic and full of action!
That day in February it was about 22 degrees with the wind whipping through the skyscrapers, but worth every minute for Mike to get a chance to photograph it!
There’s several online articles about the “Horse Soldier” monument and if you’d like to read more about the lengths Blumberg went to in order to get the details absolutely authentic, there’s a great article by Jeff Stoffer for American Legion Magazine at https://www.legion.org/magazine/230686/war-sculptor