Death of an Artist

January 11, 2007 3:15 PM

Richard Horne, better known as Harry Horse, died this weekend.This news is more prominent in the UK than in the US, but Harry Horse (MySpace) was not only a writer and illustrator of children's books, but he also designed video games and drew striking political cartoons. In the 80's he played with a band called Swamptrash (listened to but unavailable on LastFM), whose other members eventually went on to form Shooglenifty. Tragically, Richard's wife Mandy developed Multiple Sclerosis, and eventually became confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak. Rather than live without her, he chose to help her die and then take his own life, possibly reigniting the discussion in the UK about euthanasia.
posted by Medieval Maven (11 comments total)

aww, sad story. A man called Horse. He also took the lives of their pets in the euthanising. Here is some of his art work. This image is very haunting. Rest in peace Harry, Mandy and Roo.
posted by nickyskye at 3:58 PM on January 11, 2007

SPOILERS

I just saw Children of Men last night and the parallels between Mr. Horne and Michael Caine's character were striking.

END SPOILERS

Thanks for the link.
posted by Saellys at 4:14 PM on January 11, 2007

CUT'M. (Cease Upon The Midnight).
posted by loquacious at 4:15 PM on January 11, 2007

.
posted by amberglow at 4:19 PM on January 11, 2007

Gaaah, that's sad.
posted by katillathehun at 4:27 PM on January 11, 2007

hey Saellys, I saw Children of Men last night too and you're right.
posted by nickyskye at 5:01 PM on January 11, 2007

.
posted by scruss at 6:50 PM on January 11, 2007

.

I love reading his Little Rabbit books to my daughters. They're wonderful, wonderful pieces of work.
posted by hamfisted at 8:06 PM on January 11, 2007

.
posted by johnny novak at 12:57 AM on January 12, 2007

That is truly sad. What an incredible illustrator. Such undying love.

Does love kill¿ Can there only be one true love¿

His myspace reminds me of the fantastic illustration found at the Arcade Fire website. Have fun navigating. Hint: note pointing hand on each side at bottom of arc. Time well spent. Click away.

peace Mandy, Richard and Roo.
posted by alicesshoe at 6:43 AM on January 12, 2007

hamfisted, the real reason I found out about this was that my friend works for the American publishing house that imports his books. They are going to continue importing his titles and so they will be available to American kids. I'm assuming that whatever Canadian house has his books will continue to do the same. It's just such a shame. His work was really amazing.
posted by Medieval Maven at 8:45 AM on January 12, 2007