Rembrandt Bugatti
French bulldog
circa 1934

About the Item

Rembrandt BUGATTI (1884-1916) French bulldog also known as The Dog of Teresa Lorioli (mother of the artist) Small size Sculpture in bronze with a nuanced black patina. Signed on the base "R.Bugatti" A lost wax cast by "A.A. Hébrard" (with founder stamp) and numbered "11" Model created in 1905 Cast before 1934 Edition of 50 copies height 13,5 cm length of the base 13,2 cm depth of the base 8,4 cm A similar copy acquired in 1906 directly from the artist and numbered "35" is now part of the collection of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin (inv. BI 251). Bibliography : - Mary Harvey, The Bronzes of Rembrandt Bugatti (1885- 1916), an illustrated catalogue and biography, Ascot, Palaquin, 1979, p.26, n°7. - Jacques-Chalom Des Cordes & Véronique Fromanger Des Cordes, Rembrandt Bugatti catalogue raisonné, Les éditions de l'amateur, Paris, 1987, p.103. - Les Bugatti d'Alain Delon, Galerie Charles & André Bailly et Raoul Laurent, 11 janvier-10 février 1989, n°20. - Véronique Fromanger, "Rembrandt Bugatti sculpteur", répertoire monographique, Les éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2009, p.272, n°107. Biography : Rembrandt Annibale Bugatti, known as Rembrandt Bugatti (1884-1916) was an Italian animal sculptor. He was the younger brother of Ettore Bugatti, founder of the Bugatti automobile brand in 1909 and the son of the Italian designer Carlo Bugatti. As a child, Rembrandt Bugatti began to sculpt, encouraged by the leader of the Lombard divisionist painters Giovanni Segantini and by Paul Troubetzkoy, a friend of the Bugatti family. In 1901, he created his first work during a stay in the mountains: "Ritorno dal pascolo" (four cows one behind the other guided by a young farmer). Its volume was modeled by free hand and the details are simply outlined to catch the light and fragment the surface into a multitude of planes revealing the bones and muscles. In 1903, aged 19, Rembrandt Bugatti moved to Paris, and in 1904, he signed an exclusive contract with Adrien-Aurélien Hébrard, then one of the best founders of the time, as well as an art editor renowned with his art gallery located at 8 rue Royale in Paris. The young workshop manager Albino Palazzolo was his exclusive moulder-founder, helped in his beginnings, before 1908, by the famous Italian foundryman Marcello Valsuani, the father of Claude Valsuani. A.A. Hébrard, as an editor and art dealer, imposed an original edition, strictly limited and numbered, of exceptional quality. Thus, every year, Hébrard exhibited new works by Bugatti in his gallery and every five years, he organized a retrospective and presented Rembrandt Bugatti in official Parisian salons (in the Italian Modern Art section) or abroad (Venice, Milan , Brussels, Berlin, Antwerp and New York). Passionate about the animal world, Rembrandt Bugatti found the Jardin des Plantes zoo in Paris insufficient for his inspiration and his models and moved to Antwerp in Belgium where the management of the Antwerp Zoo was very welcoming towards artists. In 1906, the director of the Antwerp zoo, Michel L'Hoest, made a workshop available. Rembrandt Bugatti often returned to Paris between 1906 and 1911 where he lived near the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes. He chose free-hand modeling without markings or measurements and without preparatory sketches. During the First World War, Rembrandt Bugatti joined the Red Cross to support the wounded and became ill with tuberculosis. To help his family, then refugees in Italy, he left for Milan then decided to join the Italian army in August 1915. In Paris, orders and sales of sculptures collapsed, the Galerie Hébrard closed its doors. Rembrandt Bugatti, discharged, returned to Paris in December 1915. Rembrandt committed suicide in his Montparnasse workshop in January 1916. As a posthumous tribute, Ettore and his son Jean took his trained elephant (1904) to create the mascot for the radiator of the Bugatti Royale from 1926.

Creator:
Rembrandt Bugatti (1885-1916, Italian)
Creation Year:
circa 1934
Dimensions:
Height: 5.32 in (13.5 cm)Width: 5.2 in (13.2 cm)Depth: 3.31 in (8.4 cm)
Medium:
Bronze
Movement & Style:
French School
Period:
1930-1939
Condition:
Gallery Location:
PARIS, FR
Reference Number:
Seller: N.78591stDibs: LU2514213832162
View Invoice

Shop All Rembrandt Bugatti

Rembrandt Bugatti

Fils du renommé décorateur Carlo Bugatti et frère cadet du constructeur automobile Ettore Bugatti, Rembrandt Bugatti est connu à la fois pour ses bronzes animaliers et sa fin prématurée. Né à Milan en 1884, il réalise sa première œuvre importante en 1901, une sculpture d’un quatuor de vaches qui révèle tôt ses préoccupations animalières. Le talent de Bugatti est rapidement reconnu et, jeune encore, il connaît le succès. Achim Anscheidt, designer en chef chez Bugatti Automobiles, dira qu’il avait une capacité singulière « pour saisir le mouvement des animaux dans ce qu’il a de plus expressif ». En 1904, il est pris sous contrat d’exclusivité par le fondeur Adrien-Aurélien Hébrard. La qualité et la patine du bronze qu’il reçoit ainsi demeurent très recherchées sur le marché de l’art. Fasciné par les animaux exotiques, il parcourt le Jardin zoologique d’Anvers pour trouver de nouveaux modèles. Bien au courant d’un regain d’intérêt pour les sujets animaliers au XIXe siècle dans les tableaux de Géricault et Delacroix, ainsi que des bronzes florentins de la Renaissance par ses compatriotes Giambologna et Verrocchio, Bugatti cherche à redéfinir le rôle de la bête dans l’art plastique. Tout se passe à merveille jusqu’à ce que la Grande Guerre éclate, où, s’engageant dans la Croix-Rouge, il devient tuberculeux. Touché par sa maladie et perturbé par les atrocités de la guerre, il se suicide en 1916 à l’âge tendre de 32 ans, interrompant tragiquement une vie si prometteuse. Les sculptures de Bugatti se trouvent au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, au Musée d’Orsay, au Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, au Hirschhorn Museum, Washington. Elles figurent aussi dans la collection privée d’Alain Delon. Dans la première décennie du XXe siècle, Bugatti participe à la Biennale de Venise. En 1911, il est officier de la Légion d’Honneur. Des expositions de ses œuvres ont lieu en 1904 et 1911 à la Galerie Hébrard, et en 1979 au Royal College of Art. En 2014, l’Alte Nationalgalerie de Berlin lui consacre une rétrospective posthume.