The Library Services of the University of Navarra hosts a sample based on the toy horse devised by the Austrian art historian Ernst H. Gombrich. With the degree scroll Hobby Horse: Joaquín Lorda and E. H. Gombrich exhibition position is the work of the Navarrese sculptor Faustino Aizkorbe and pays homage to his friend, the professor of the University of Navarra, Joaquín Lorda, who passed away at the University of Navarra. School of Architecture Joaquín Lorda, who died in 2016.

The inauguration of the sample, which can be visited until April 20, was attended by Faustino Aizkorbe; the president of the University, María Iraburu; the director of the School of Architecture, Carlos Naya; and the professor of the same School, Mª Angélica Martínez; the emeritus professor Maria Antonia Frías; the director of the Library Services, Víctor Sanz; the professor of the School of Theology, Juan Luis Lorda. "This exhibition has been possible thanks to Mª Angelica, Maria Antonia Frías and Juan Luis Lorda. We started the project with some small sketches and little by little the exhibitionhas been built," said Aizkorbe. 

The centrepiece of exhibition is the figure of the toy horse, a metaphor on the basis of which Gombrich wrote one of his most important contributions to the history of art: Meditations on a Toy Horse. A essay in which, after exploring the relationship between image-making and the child's mentality, Gombrich analyses the adult experience of the arts in the light of the metaphors used to describe emotional reactions. The same figure of the toy horse was used by Joaquín Lorda and Ernst H. Gombrich, to accompany -as a nice joke- their correspondence throughout fifteen years: an essential exchange of ideas that would help professor Lorda to write the best study and the most complete synthesis of his ideas in: Gombrich: a theory of art. 

The professor and curator of the exhibition, Mª Angélica Martínez, explained that "at purpose of the sample, Aizkorbe has sponsored a catalogue which includes all the works on display and a second edition of Gombrich: a theory of art, published by the School of Architecture and to be presented soon. "A second edition of this out-of-print book, which is an excellent way of delving into Gombrich's ideas through Joaquín Lorda, who makes them really clear and accessible to university students, was necessary", he explained.

Figurative art and abstraction

The sample, which oscillates between figurative art and abstraction, is an invitation to reflect on representation, creation and experience in the arts, based on the teachings of Ernst H. Gombrich and Joaquín Lorda. Aizkorbe conceives for this exhibition a series of original pieces inspired by the toy horse and the obstacles of equestrian races. These are paintings and sculptures made especially for the exhibition at the entrance hall of the Library Services Central of the University of Navarra. It also includes the first models devised and some preliminary programs of study to explore their plastic possibilities.

The exhibition, organised by the group de research of the University of Navarra ART T&H, is accompanied by a selection of publications housed at Library Services, including numerous articles and books by Gombrich, as well as some of Professor Lorda's works on the art historian's ideas.