Lot 80 Dα

In Milan in 1884, Rembrandt Bugatti – the younger brother of the famous automobile builder and bon vivant Ettore Bugatti – was born into a family of designers and painters whose unconventionality was equal to their love of art. Like his grandfather before him, Bugatti trained to become a sculptor; to do so, he travelled to Paris, the capital of the art world at that time. However, unlike avant-garde artists of approximately the same age, such as Picasso and Modigliani, he left the studio and worked in the zoo instead, initially in Paris and then later in Antwerp, in what was then the most important zoo. With his successful exhibition of “Aufbäumender Elefant” (1903), his path to becoming an animal sculptor was set. He quickly developed his style featuring refractive impressionistic surfaces, and his collaboration with a kindred genius – gallerist and elite bronze caster Adrien-Aurélien Hebrard – made him a leading international animal sculptor around 1905.
In “Bouledogue Français”, Bugatti has created a portrait of his mother Teres Lorioli’s dog. With his expectant pose, collar and loyal gaze, the artist has interpreted the bulldog as a people-oriented pet for the home. With his upright ears he seems to be listening to his owner. After Bugatti created a 29 centimetre plaster model of the bulldog, Hebrard had it cast in a limited edition of 50 for his best customers. While Hugo von Tschudi had already purchased one of these casts for Germany’s Nationalgalerie in 1906, the cast offered here, which bears a full signature, is dedicated to Madame Valsuani, the mother of a friend who was a caster.