Horse and Wagon

This sketch by sculptor and illustrator Solon H. Borglum captures a working horse and wagon in loose charcoal, exemplifying the gestural drawing style that would inform early sequential art. Though primarily known for monumental sculpture, Borglum practiced figure and animal studies throughout his career. Such working sketches—rendered with quick, assured strokes—reveal the foundational observational techniques that artists of the 1890s applied across mediums: from fine art to the emerging newspaper illustration industry that would birth the comic strip within a decade.