Business Man on a Horse William McElcheran

Artist: William McElcheran
Bronze
9 feet high

In Business Man on a Horse, William McElcheran presented us with the now famous figure of his befuddled businessman awkwardly seated on his "trusted steed." The work seems to bring the viewer into a kind of shared compassionate joke. McElcheran's self-important businessman has trouble seeing himself as the contemporary descendant of the triumphant returning war leaders of the past, who would be the traditional subject of a historic horse-and-rider sculpture. As many critics have noted however, McElcheran's subjects are not just the target of his jokes, they are also under his protection: "We get a sharp sense that each of these figures is cared for by the sculptor, wrapped in an unseen cocoon and that we, as viewers, are being asked to care for them too."