Ballad of the Heck Horse

Does the noble Heck horse still roam free?

Strong, small and gentle by nature, the Heck horse was created by zoologists and Third Reich members Lutz and Heinz Heck for Hitler’s hunting lodges in World War II.

Inspired by the unique and now extinct wild horse the Tarpan, the Hecks tried to replicate this pure breed in their Heck horses. Tragically the Heck horse met its untimely demise at the end of World War II, when most were shipped from their native Bialowieza Forest in Poland to Berlin where they were killed for food by starving Russian forces.

Contrasting images of this plucky, graceful little horse with old magazine covers shatters the veneer and focuses on the beauty and the tragedy of their existence.

This collection features covers from old photojournalistic magazines needle-pounced with Heck horse imagery.