Two Antelope (The Sick Mother), 1911
Bronze
9 1/4 x 17 1/2 x 4 3/4 in
Biography
Italian-born artist Rembrandt Bugatti is the son of furniture designer Carlo Bugatti, and the younger brother of car designer Ettore Bugatti. Rembrandt distinguished himself as one of the finest sculptors of the early 20th century. Although his career was brief—he committed suicide at age 31—he produced some 300 sculptures to commercial and critical success.
Unlike his artistic predecessors, namely the 19th-century French sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye, who precisely depicted wild creatures in violent combat, Bugatti portrayed animals at rest—sitting, stretching, nuzzling, grooming. His understanding of animals was both empirical and empathic. He worked from direct observation, creating clay models in proximity to the live animals he visited at the zoo. While his style and technique evolved over time—his surfaces ranged from sleek finishes to faceting that approached Cubism—his compassion for his subjects was unwavering, as evident in his sensitive portrayals.
Bugatti was born in Milan in 1884, and he worked in Paris and Antwerp. His early talents were nurtured in the creative environment of his family (the young artist was particularly inspired by the work of his uncle, the painter Giovanni Segantini) and he was encouraged by such family friends as Russian sculptor Paul Troubetzkoy. Bugatti began exhibiting his works in the early 1900s, joining the major Paris gallery and foundry of A. A. Hébrard. In 1911, at age 27, he was elected Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Despite enjoying periods of success, which included praise from poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire and the elder sculptor Auguste Rodin, Bugatti, who struggled with lifelong depression, suffered emotional and financial hardships exacerbated by the First World War. He ended his life by gas poisoning in Paris in 1916.
