Joseph H. Sulkowski of Franklin, Tenn., is the featured artist for the 68th running of the Iroquois Steeplechase. Having been selected for past Iroquois events in 1984, 1989, 1999 and now 2009, Sulkowski’s role as featured artist has become a tradition nearly every 10 years. The 2009 Iroquois painting is titled, “In the Saddling Paddock, Iroquois Steeplechase.”
Knowing at age 5 that he wanted to be an artist, Sulkowski went on to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, culminating at the Art Students League of New York for five years. With an in-depth knowledge of the techniques of the Old Masters, Sulkowski prepares his own canvases, pigments and oil mediums by hand.
One of the top sporting artists in the world, Sulkowski refers to his style as “poetic realism,” an interpretive form drawn directly from the natural world and infusing his canvases with the timeless principles of light and beauty born of form and rhythm. His love for sporting dogs can be viewed in his beautiful book, “Master and Hounds,” which was published for his 2003 exhibition in London. Sulkowski has traveled to many places afield for inspiration, from the quail hunting plantations of south Georgia to the grouse moors of the Scottish Highlands. His trips to Royal Ascot have inspired several of his most notable racing paintings.
Equally sought after are his paintings of horses, dogs, landscapes and sporting portraits. Sulkowski has been featured in several racing exhibitions and sporting venues, such as Camden, S.C., the Kentucky Derby Museum, Wally Findlay Gallery and the Kentucky Horse Park Museum in Lexington, Ky. Elsewhere, his paintings have been exhibited with Purdy’s and Holland & Holland in London, and in the United States with the Safari Club International.
Halcyon Gallery in Mayfair, London has presented Sulkowski in three solo exhibitions and represents his work in its galleries on Bruton Street and New Bond Street.
Sulkowski is represented in New York with Peter L. Villa Fine Art and through Masterpanels Gallery in Nolensville, Tenn. His paintings are in private collections throughout Europe, North America and the Far East and his murals of 1980 depicting Saudi Arabian history hang in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Currently, Sulkowski is showing with the prestigious Society of Animal Painters in a traveling museum exhibition across the United States. Some of his prominent collectors include notable Nashvillians, as well as the Duke of Bedford, Marshall Field IV, George Michael and Rolex Int’l among others.
The Iroquois Steeplechase thanks Joseph Sulkowski for sharing his talent with us again by creating our featured art piece, “In the Saddling Paddock, Iroquois Steeplechase.”
This beautiful piece of art will be auctioned at the 2009 Hunt Ball. For more information or to make a bid, please email info@iroquoissteeplechase.org. or call 615-591-2991.