Skip to main contentBiographyDuring his short career as a sculptor, Rembrandt Bugatti completed more than 150 bronze sculptures, almost all of which depict animals. Bugatti worked from live animal models at the Paris zoo located in the Jardin des Plantes and later at the Antwerp Zoological Gardens in Belgium. He closely observed the characteristics of each animal as he sculpted directly in clay or plastilene a non-drying compound of clay dust and wax. This working method allowed him to capture subtle expressions of emotion and gesture in a quick, loose style. Bugatti believed so firmly in the importance of sculpting directly from his animal models rather than returning to the studio to work from a sketch that he would abandon a piece if he could not complete it in one sitting.
Bugatti's animal sculptures follow in the tradition of French animal sculpture begun in the early nineteenth century by Antoine-Louis Barye. However, unlike Barye and his contemporaries, Bugatti was not concerned with anatomically precise portrayals of violent confrontations between wild animals. Rather, Bugatti displayed his tenderness towards his animal subjects by sculpting them alone, engaged in day-to-day activities or interacting peacefully in a group.
Bugatti received critical acclaim for his animal sculpture from an early age. His father, a well-known Italian furniture designer, first recognized Rembrandt's talents at the age of 15, when a family friend discovered a sculpture of cows that the boy had hidden away in his father's workshop. From then on Rembrandt Bugatti was encouraged to pursue sculpture as a career. With no formal academic art education, he signed on at an important Parisian gallery, A.A. Hebrard and exhibited there annually beginning in 1904. Bugatti moved to Antwerp in 1907 and worked there alongside fellow animalier artists, including Alberic Collin and Frans Jochems, in the supportive artistic environment of the Antwerp Zoo until returning to Paris in 1915. In 1911, he received the prestigious Legion of Honor medal from the French government for his services to French art. After a life-long struggle with depression heightened by financial difficulties and the devastation of World War I, Rembrandt Bugatti took his own life in Paris in 1916 at the age of 31.
Rembrandt Bugatti
Italy, 1885 - 1916
Bugatti's animal sculptures follow in the tradition of French animal sculpture begun in the early nineteenth century by Antoine-Louis Barye. However, unlike Barye and his contemporaries, Bugatti was not concerned with anatomically precise portrayals of violent confrontations between wild animals. Rather, Bugatti displayed his tenderness towards his animal subjects by sculpting them alone, engaged in day-to-day activities or interacting peacefully in a group.
Bugatti received critical acclaim for his animal sculpture from an early age. His father, a well-known Italian furniture designer, first recognized Rembrandt's talents at the age of 15, when a family friend discovered a sculpture of cows that the boy had hidden away in his father's workshop. From then on Rembrandt Bugatti was encouraged to pursue sculpture as a career. With no formal academic art education, he signed on at an important Parisian gallery, A.A. Hebrard and exhibited there annually beginning in 1904. Bugatti moved to Antwerp in 1907 and worked there alongside fellow animalier artists, including Alberic Collin and Frans Jochems, in the supportive artistic environment of the Antwerp Zoo until returning to Paris in 1915. In 1911, he received the prestigious Legion of Honor medal from the French government for his services to French art. After a life-long struggle with depression heightened by financial difficulties and the devastation of World War I, Rembrandt Bugatti took his own life in Paris in 1916 at the age of 31.
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