by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 17, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Looking at The Riding School
Horses, riders and strong black curves crowd Franz Marc’s The Riding School. The Metropolitan Museum of Art identifies its impression as a 1913 woodcut, object 1984.1203.85. Its printed block measures 27 × 29 cm. The Met’s full image lets us see the pale paper around the design as well as the cut lines that make its dark forms. [1]
Watch: Franz Marc
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Franz Marc, Blue Horses and Der Blaue Reiter
An English-language introduction to Marc’s blue horses, animals, spirituality and the Blue Rider.
Watch on YouTubeMotion made from cuts
At first the print can look like a tangle. Follow the white shapes, though, and the heads and bodies of horses begin to separate. Curved marks above them pull the eye across the scene. Marc uses the opposition of black ink and unprinted paper to create movement without the intense colour associated with his best-known horse paintings. The small gaps between forms matter: they are what keep the animals legible within a dense design. [1]
A woodcut is printed from a carved block. In this impression, the black areas have been left to take ink while the pale lines and spaces have been cut away. This helps explain the force of the print’s contours. The Met lists the work in its prints collection and records its arrival through Scofield Thayer’s 1984 bequest; its entry does not establish where this particular sheet was first exhibited. [1]
Compare The Riding School with Marc’s Birth of the Horses, another 1913 woodcut, and with the black-and-white Animal Legend. Those works show how a carved line can hold together a group of animals even when the surrounding space is compressed. Here the viewer’s task is to find each horse within the larger surge of marks. [1] [2] [3]
Artwork Directory
This source-checked selection contains 192 identified works and print designs from the current Franz Marc research set. It is a curated selection, not a complete catalogue raisonné. Some works link to their article here; others link to a collection record. Unresolved identifications are omitted.
Discussion
Riders and horses crowd a woodcut of strong black curves.
Reader Insights
Observation
Where do you find the first rider among the horses?
Comparison
How does this human-and-horse scene differ from Birth of the Horses?
Interpretation
What does the crowded format do to the sense of control and movement?
Join the Conversation
Which detail changed the way you saw this work? Share a close observation or a comparison with another Marc picture.
References
- Met object record. View source.
- Lenbachhaus, Birth of the Horses. View source.
- National Gallery of Art, Animal Legend. View source.
- Related artwork image, Yellow Cow: Photograph by Dr. Alexey Yakovlev; resized without crop or colour change, CC BY-SA 2.0.
- Splash image: Franz Marc, The Riding School, 1913, woodcut. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984.1203.85. Met Open Access public-domain image. Object record.
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