{"id":13515,"date":"2026-03-17T11:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/produit\/marabout-au-repos-1907\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T11:10:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:10:34","slug":"marabout-au-repos-1907","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.galerienicolasbourriaud.com\/en\/produit\/marabout-au-repos-1907\/","title":{"rendered":"MARABOU AT REST (1907)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cI look very much like an old marabou,\u201d Rembrandt Bugatti wrote in a small undated notebook.
\n<\/span>This sentence, of poignant sincerity, sheds light on the sculptor\u2019s profound attachment to this solitary wading bird, which he regarded not as a mere animal subject but as a true alter ego. At the time, Bugatti was suffering from intense isolation, emotional estrangement from his family and loved ones, and a sense of confinement comparable to that of the migratory birds he observed in the narrow, ill-suited enclosures of the zoological gardens of Paris and Antwerp.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The marabou, a large scavenging stork, is an imposing yet marginal bird, often unloved, with a grave, almost melancholic appearance. Forced into immobility when captive, deprived of the space necessary for flight, it came to embody for Bugatti the condition of the sensitive being trapped in an existence that stifles vital impulse. Through this figure, the artist projects his own struggle to maintain inner balance, his fear of emotional and creative desiccation, and his battle with a solitude he himself described as a \u201csolitude of the soul.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This identification finds particularly explicit expression in an autobiographical drawing, often referred to as<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Self-Portrait with a Marabou<\/span><\/em>, in which Bugatti depicts himself in profile facing a marabou constructed from elementary geometric volumes.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is within this context that Bugatti modelled his marabou sculptures around 1907. He first created<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>The Marabous, One Against the Other<\/span><\/em>, a group imbued with empathy, celebrating the bond, attachment, and reciprocity between two living beings. By contrast,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Marabou at Rest<\/span><\/em>, the present work, embodies solitude that is accepted, almost internalized. The bird is shown motionless, its beak and long legs folded to form two parallel lines that merge into the dense mass of the body with closed wings. The radical synthesis of volumes, combined with a restrained and precise modelling of the plumage, lends the work a rare expressive intensity, further enhanced by the beautiful dark patina of this example.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Only ten casts of this model, published by H\u00e9brard\u2014the artist\u2019s exclusive editor\u2014between 1913 and 1934, have been recorded. Numbered 3, the present bronze is therefore among the very earliest casts and, according to family archives, was acquired directly from the foundry in 1922. In 1903, through the intermediary of his adoptive father Ren\u00e9 Dubois, Rembrandt Bugatti met Adrien Aur\u00e9lien H\u00e9brard, who placed him under contract. Together with his workshop foreman Albino Palazzolo, assisted by Marcello and Claude Valsuani, a close and friendly collaboration developed, resulting in magnificent lost-wax casts\u2014an association that explains the dedication of one of Bugatti\u2019s drawings to his friend, the founder Valsuani, who, like Bugatti himself, was of Italian origin.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rembrandt BUGATTI<\/span><\/h1>\n

Brown-patinated bronze, signed \u201cR. Bugatti\u201d
\nH\u00e9brard cast, numbered 3, bearing the publisher\u2019s stamp \u201cCIRE PERDUE A.A. H\u00c9BRARD\u201d
\nHeight: 9 \u00be\u201d (25 cm); base: 9\u201d (22.7 cm) \u00d7 4\u201d (10 cm); overall length: 11\u201d (27.7 cm)
\nCast between 1913 and 1922<\/p>\n

Provenance:<\/strong>\u00a0Former Jules Perrigot collection, acquired in 1922; by descent.<\/p>\n

Related works:<\/strong> Rembrandt Bugatti,\u00a0The Marabous, One Against the Other<\/em>, unique work, c. 1908, lost-wax bronze, Paris, Salon d\u2019Automne 1908, no. 316, sold by A.A. H\u00e9brard, January 1909\u00a0; Rembrandt Bugatti,\u00a0Marabou<\/em>, c. 1908, plaster cast, H. 10, \u00be (27.5) \u00d7 11 \u00bc(28.5) \u00d7 5 \u00bc(13.2 cm), Paris, Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay, inv. no. RF3571.<\/p>\n

Handwritten source:<\/strong>\u00a0: purchase invoice dated 13 December 1922 from the H\u00e9brard foundry to Mr. Perrigot.<\/p>\n

Bibliography:<\/strong>\u00a0V\u00e9ronique Fromanger,\u00a0Rembrandt Bugatti, sculpteur: r\u00e9pertoire monographique, une trajectoire foudroyante<\/em>, Paris, 2016, model listed under no. 186, p. 322.<\/p>\n

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SOLD<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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