Les Deux Amis, Arabe et son Cheval

Artist / Maker Victor Peter (French, 1840 - 1918)

Date1900

MediumBronze

Dimensions23 x 28 x 11 in. (58.4 x 71.1 x 27.9 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineThe Iowa State College Livestock Judging team won horse judging consecutively in 1904, 1905, and 1906 at the International Livestock Exposition and retired the trophy. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU80.10

Status

On view

Collections

Label TextC. F. Curtiss made livestock judging important at the college. Eye judgment was the method by which animals were evaluated and ranked on type -- that ideal combination of characteristics that better fits an animal for a specific purpose. The competition appealed to students since J. A. Craig initiated it when he was department head at Wisconsin before coming to the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station in 1896. The story goes that the department fielded a team in 1900 and was only 5th at the International in Chicago. This was not sufficient to lure prospective students to animal husbandry at Ames. The University of Illinois won the 1900 contest. They were coached by W. J. Kennedy on their faculty. Dean Curtiss hired W. J. Kennedy to be head of animal husbandry when Curtiss became dean. Kenedy was a good coach and subsequently Iowa State retired the Spoor's Trophy, the bull in defiant stance by Isedore Bonheur, brother of Rosa who painted the famous Horse Fair, by winning the International contest in 1901, 1902 and 1903. This bronze graced the rotunda of Curtiss Hall from on on. (It is now proudly displayed in the Kildee Hall Ensminger Room.) The team won the horse judging in 1904, 1905, and 1906 and retired the horse trophy "Deux Amis" by Victor Peter. This bronze sculpture was displayed in the ISU President's Office in the late 1900's and is now also located in the Kildee Hall Ensminger Room. By 1912, Kennedy had become embroiled in a judging team scandal and was asked to leave the faculty for several reasons. By then J. H. Shepperd had taken over the running of the International Judging Contest and the situation was bettered.

Object Titles[com.gallerysystems.emuseum.core.entities.ObjectTitle@9782]

Locations