LITTLE PANTHER (1909-1910)

Rembrandt BUGATTI

Bronze with a brown green black patina. Signed « R. Bugatti ».
Cast by Hébrard, numbered « 10 », realized by Albino Palazzolo
Bears the stamp « Cire perdue A.A Hébrard ».
Circa before 1928.
Bronze edition of the sculpture listed in 10 numbered copies.

Height: 6.88″
Width: 14.76″
Depth: 4.92″

Provenance: Sold by the founder A. A Hébrard to M. Georges Lehmann on October 26 1928.
Literature: Véronique Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti sculpteur, Les Editions de l’Amateur, Paris, 2016, reproduced page 340 under the number 231.
Temporary exhibitions: 1913 et 1922 « Rembrandt Bugatti, Rétrospective », Galerie A.-A Hébrard, Paris ; 1978, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, tirage (8), collection of Mr et Mrs Joseph Tanenbaum, Toronto.

SOLD

Description

At all times, panthers have been a particular spur to the imagination. Bugatti used to spend time every day at the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes to see the panthers which he considered as his “life and work companions”. He would then talk at length with the healers who tended the animals, in a mixture of French and Italian.

Bugatti had been permitted to visit the big cats, which had got used to the sculptor’s presence, outside the opening hours of the menagerie. These privileged moments of observation and approach gave him a thorough knowledge of their habits and behaviour. Bugatti thereby captured the big cats energy, dynamism and power and restored these perceptions in his sculptures.

This sculpture was acquired directly from the founder A.A. Hébrard, in October 1928, at a cost of 8000 francs. (The invoice is in our possession).