Pierre "PEB" Bellocq Exhibit
July 1 - 31, 2025
Bellocq is a French-American artist and horse racing cartoonist known as "Peb". He worked for the Morning Telegraph and the Daily Racing Form for over 50 years illustrating jockeys, trainers, horses, owners and specific horse races. The prints on display have connections to the Aiken horse racing community.
Bellocq was born in Bedenac, Charente-Maritime, France on November 25, 1926. By 1954, Bellocq's work had achieved international recognition and he was contracted by Laurel Park owner John D. Schapiro to do drawings for the inaugural running of the Washington, D.C. International Stakes. He settled in the United States and in early 1955 accepted an offer to work as the staff cartoonist for the Morning Telegraph newspaper and its sister paper, the Daily Racing Form, a job he held until December 2008.
Pierre Bellocq has produced several books; his first consisted of 150 cartoons and was titled Peb's Equine Comedy. It was published by Random House in 1957 and is still in print. As well, he did the illustrations for the 1969 Joe Hirsch book A Treasury of Questions and Answers from the Morning Telegraph and Daily Racing Form. In 2004, he created drawings for author Ed Hotaling's book on jockey Jimmy Winkfield whom Bellocq had known personally when the African American rider was living and racing in his hometown of Maisons-Laffitte, France.
He received the National Cartoonists Society 1991 Sports Cartoon Award and their 1999 Newspaper Illustration Award. In 1998, the Daniel Wildenstein Art Gallery in New York held an exhibition of Bellocq's work titled "The Racing World in Sketch and Caricature." From July 24, 2004, until December 31, 2005, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame put on a special exhibition of his works titled "Peb: The Art of Humor" that celebrated his 50th anniversary of horse racing artwork in the United States.
In 2001, when Churchill Downs began its major renovations, one of the additions to the clubhouse was a 36-foot mural by Pierre Bellocq depicting all 96 jockeys who had won the Kentucky Derby from 1875 to 2004. Another Bellocq mural, in the clubhouse of Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, depicts the dominant jockeys, trainers and racing personalities of the track's century-long history.
Admission is free and hours are Tuesday - Friday from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday from 10:00 a.m. and Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
For more information contact [email protected] or 803-643-2121.
Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum
"Home of Aiken's Racing Champions"
Information: 803-642-7631
Hours of Operation
Tuesday - Friday 2 pm - 5 pm
Saturday 10 am - 5 pm
Sunday 2 pm - 5 pm
Free admission
