Description
The Nubian Lioness is a work of sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti (1884-1916). Born into a family of artists in Milan in 1884, Rembrandt Bugatti moved to Paris with his parents in 1904. He assiduously frequented the Jardin des Plantes where he met the famous founder and gallery owner Hébrard, who immediately had him sign a exclusive publishing contract. From 1905, he exhibited his works at the Salon d’Automne of the Grand Palais in Paris and frequented the greatest artists of the time, such as Modigliani, Picasso, Derain and Apollinaire. At the invitation of the Royal Society of Zoology, he moved to Antwerp in 1907, where he remained until 1914, exhibiting regularly in Brussels and Liège.
Originally designed by Rembrandt Bugatti in 1909-1910 as a “Lion and Lioness of Nubia” group, the casts of the two separate beasts were offered by the Hébrard Foundry from 1922. This “Lioness of Nubia” is on the prowl, the gaze is directed straight ahead, the female being the main hunter among the lions. All of Bugatti’s art is found in this alliance of naturalistic truth and geometric stylization announcing decorative art.
