Son of decorator and architect Carlo Bugatti, he began sculpting and modeling as a child, encouraged by a number of great artists, including Giovanni Segantini and Paul Troubetzkoy. He produced his first work at the age of 17, "Rittorno dal pascolo", depicting 4 cows one behind the other on their way home, guided by a farmer. He roamed the Engadine mountains of Maloja with his uncle Segantini and his cousins, a meeting place for artists and philosophers including Nietzche, Rilke and Freud, as well as Klimt and Giacometti.
His first sculpture already offered all the elements of the Bugatti style: free-hand modeling, broad strokes of the thumb bringing a fascinating dynamism to the movement. In 1903, at the age of 19, he moved to Paris and, through his adoptive father René Dubois, met Adrien Aurélien Hébrard, who took him under contract. He ran the famous foundry and gallery on Rue Royale in Paris. The head of the workshop, assisted by Marcello and Claude Valsuani, created his lost-wax bronze sculptures. A.A.Hébrard, a collector, engineer, chemist, publisher and art dealer, created for the first time an original, strictly limited and numbered edition of exceptional quality. Every year, Hébrard exhibits the artist's new sculptures in his gallery, and presents him at official shows in Paris, Venice, Milan, Brussels, Berlin, Antwerp and New York.
Totally enchanted by the animal world, he constantly visited the Jardin des Plantes, which he found too limited. He decided to move to Antwerp, Belgium, where he befriended the director of the zoological garden, Michel l'Hoest, who made a studio available to him. For 15 years, Rembrandt Bugatti analyzed and observed animals, revealing the animal soul through his sculpture. He fixed their movements, bodies, attitudes and expressions in plastiline, then in plaster. He retained his freehand modeling technique, adding that special touch to the artist's style and reinforcing the expressionism of his figures. The choice of these animal subjects gives us food for thought: in a way, he liberates his own animal soul, sometimes revealing their humanity in his sculpture. We are fortunate and honored to present two subjects in this collection, the first an animal with this devouring lioness and the second a human figure representing a nude woman styling her hair (lot 5). The subject of the devouring lioness (lot 4) touches on the animal instinct par excellence, where unlike the human being who is capable of marking time and distance with food (something that is certainly not given to everyone), the animal devours without waiting. And in this fateful moment, following the lioness's capture of her prey, the artist's treatment and realism highlight her own animality.
Lot 4 | Rembrandt Bugatti
Lioness Devouring, circa 1904
Estimate: 200 000 / 300 000€
The second sculpture, of a nude woman doing her hair, is highly sensual, animating our own desire and bringing another dimension to our animal side. Human subjects are rare and fascinating in the artist's work, and allow us to better approach the treatment of the body. Of course, it's not a question of morphological study, but rather of revealing the animal and human soul, and how close they are.
Lot 5 | Rembrandt Bugatti
Seated nude woman doing her hair, 1906
Estimate: 100 000 / 150 000€
