The 1950s were a period of prosperity and rising affluence, one of social mobility and fulfilling “the American dream” of working hard and being rewarded with the material riches previously associated only with the truly wealthy. Families that had never owned their own house were newly able to do so in the 1950s. Likewise automobiles became accessible to ever larger numbers of people. And Cadillacs, previously owned mostly by the Park Avenue set, suddenly became visible in the suburbs. Recall Don and Betty Draper’s pride … and the neighbors’ envy … when he brought home the new blue Cadillac on “Mad Men.”

Recall also Betty Draper taking riding lessons with her friends. And for those lessons, she dressed up in the entire outfit, an outfit more commonly seen on Jacqueline Kennedy or the British aristocracy.

I therefore have to wonder if the fascination with horses was perhaps another way of reaching for the material symbols of wealth. Really “rich” people kept horses, rode horses, and dressed in horse-riding clothes. So if a suburban housewife could buy the riding clothes and take riding lessons, she could convince herself for those few hours that she too was “rich,” even if she could not afford to build a stable behind the house and convert a corner of the backyard into a paddock. She might not be able to take the brass ring home, but she could certainly hold it for a while.

And I have to suspect that there was a certain eliminate of that metaphorical holding of the brass ring attached to the abundance of horse motifs in decorating. By utilizing horse murals and sculptures and patterns, even the modest suburban middle-class could lay claim to being a member of “the horsey set,” even if only in their own mind. Perhaps horse motifs in decorating in the 1950s were the equivalent of the modern Ralph Lauren horse-motif design label, a label deliberately intended by its creator to make his customer feel wealthier and more upwardly mobile socially.

Robert

Just this very week there was a TV program on a Louisville artist (I will try to dig up her name, I can’t remember it) who specializes in painting horses in this style. She said that her aim was to capture the energy of the horses rather than their actual appearance. Her comment seems to tie in with what Ronn Ives said regarding horse imagery and horse power in cars. Maybe in the 50s such paintings were a way of demonstrating the energy and enthusiasm of the times.