THE LOST UNICORNS:
The Portrayal of Unicorns in Contemporary Art

Do you remember the first time you heard of unicorns? Do you remember the first time you saw a picture of a unicorn? What did it look like? What you have most likely seen was a picture of a white horse with a straight spiral horn growing out of its forehead. In the western world that image has become the stereotype image for portraying a unicorn on the covers of novels, on posters, on t-shirts, even in the movies! But the history of unicorns in the world is ripe with stories and legends describing mythical one-horned beasts that look nothing like the stereotype image. So why does it seem that artists are not showing the unicorn in other forms? Why does every unicorn picture have to resemble a horse?

A "typical" unicorn picture.  Very horse-like, including the hooves, mane and tail.

Legends can be found all over the world about this mysterious magical one-horned creature. And from different cultures you will discover completely different descriptions of the unicorn. The only consistent detail in every legend is, of course, the singular horn on the creature's head. But even the description of the horn varies in different cultures. As for the rest of the creature, you will find descriptions that describe anything but the stereotypical white horse. In fact, cryptozoologists who study historical records describing the unicorn would most likely affirm that the unicorn is not even related to the horse!

Stories describe the unicorn as having the size of anywhere from as small as a dog to as large as an elephant. The color of their hide can be snow white, ruddy brown, black as night, golden as the sun, or all the colors of the rainbow. Some tales even mention the unicorns as having scales of a dragon! Their eyes can be any shade of color as a human's can be, and then some. Their horn varies in shape and size, being anywhere from a few inches to several meters. The horn can be straight or curved or wound around like a corkscrew. It can be smooth or spiral. And its color can be any color as the rest of the unicorn. And some tales describe the horn as having more than one color. The hooves are usually described as cloven, like those of a deer or a goat, not like the solid hoof of a horse. Their tail is usually described as looking like a lion's or an ox tail. These last two features are what distinguishes unicorns apart from horses.

With so many variations on the unicorn, you would think to find very different images everywhere you look for a picture of a unicorn, but such images seem as rare as the unicorns themselves! There is a creature that also has as varied a description as the unicorn in legend -- the dragon. But unlike unicorns, dragons don't suffer from a single stereotype image. Dragon images can be found everywhere unicorn images would be found--on covers of novels, on posters and on t-shirts. Yet almost every picture of a dragon is unique. Artists can be very creative and imaginative when it comes to drawing a dragon in every possible shape and size and color. So why can't they do the same for unicorns? Do artists, or the people who commission a picture of a unicorn, don't think that other people would recognize a one-horned four-legged beast as a unicorn if it didn't look like a horse?

It is as if unicorns of other lands have been forgotten in the media, like the ki-lin of the Orient, or the karkadann of the Arab deserts, even the "classic" unicorn of Western Europe. These other unicorns are nothing like a white horse with a spiral horn. They are far more grand and mystical. It is up to aspiring artists and even professional artists to revive these other legends, so that next time someone (or even themselves) ask to draw a unicorn, they would look up and research the old tales, and bring them to life with their creativity and imagination so that people will see the unicorns for what they truly are, and not what they appear to be.

A more accurate depiction of a unicorn by Wayne Barlowe.  Note the smooth horn, the lion-like tail and the cloven hooves.