To capture the life, the energy and the willingness of spirit in clay and bronze is a huge, never-ending challenge to which Langton is becoming increasingly addicted.
Charlie Langton’s inspiration is the horse. More specifically, the thoroughbred. In particular, the difference in attitude, character and physicality that sets the champion racehorse apart. The thoroughbred horse is a truly breath-taking sight. Powerful yet graceful, athletic, balanced, fit, fast, stunningly beautiful and yet oblivious to the impact that this mesmerizing combination can have on the observer, Charlie believes that the thoroughbred could maintain his interest in the horse as a subject for a lifetime.
However, it is in searching for the components that make a champion a champion that he finds himself drawn into each subject with a fresh excitement. Every champion horse has something unique or, more likely, a unique combination of attributes that will set it apart from the herd. It is the process of trying to establish what these are, and attempting to capture them, that he finds so alluring.
His ambition with every work is to sculpt the character, the presence, the movement and the likeness of the horse so that fleeting spark of excitement, passion and beauty can endure. How has the breed evolved in the last 300 years? How interesting would it be to be able to stand Eclipse next to Shergar? Sculpting a portrait of a great horse can be an accurate historical record of the bloodline as well as a work of art.
Charlie has sculpted numerous race horses, including Sadler’s Wells, Montjeu, Galileo, Goldikova, Giant’s Causeway, Fastnet Rock, Yeats, Treve, American Pharaoh, Justify and Winx. In 2017 he completed a 20% over life-size mare and foal which was given to Her Majesty The Queen by His Highness Sheikh Mohammned and Her Highness Princess Haya and The Newmarket Commemoration Committee, to celebrate The Queen’s 90th Birthday and love of the thoroughbred.