REMBRANDT BUGATTI (1884-1916) - FORMER ALAIN LESIEUTRE COLLECTION Small elephant at rest, the model designed around [1912], our numbered proof (8) A sculpture. Proof in bronze with a richly shaded, semi-transparent dark brown patina (Renaissance type). Lost-wax casting by Albino Palazzolo. Early edition by Adrien-Aurélien Hébrard. Signed R. BUGATTI, stamped Cire perdue A.A. HEBRARD and numbered (8) in a corner on the terrace. Height: 20.5 cm - Length: 19 cm - Depth: 11 cm Terrace: 18 x 10 cm Provenance : - Mme Boudon Collection. - Alain Lesieutre Collection. - SaleAder-Picard-Tajan, Hôtel George V, Paris, December 13, 1989 : Collection Alain Lesieutre. Our work presented under catalog number 202 and reproduced on page 117. - Private collection, Paris. Acquired at the previous sale. Exhibitions of our sculpture model: - Rembrandt Bugatti, retrospective - Galerie Adrien-Aurélien Hébrard, Paris, 1913. A proof of Le Petit éléphant au repos presented at this event. - Exhibition of Rembrandt Bugatti's last works 1884-191[5] - Galerie Adrien-Aurélien Hébrard, Paris, 1922. A proof of Le Petit éléphant au repos presented at this event. - Animal sculpture by R. Bugatti - Abdy 1 Co Galleries, London, 1929. A proof of Le Petit éléphant au repos presented at this event. - Rembrandt Bugatti ; sculpture - Sladmore Gallery, London, 2004. A proof of Le Petit éléphant au repos presented at this exhibition. Bibliography : - Véronique Fromanger - Rembrandt Bugatti sculpteur - Une trajectoire foudroyante - Répertoire monographique - Les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2016. A bronze proof of Petit éléphant au repos reproduced on page 364 and referenced in the Répertoire des éditions en bronze under number 300; number (8) listed in the chapter Anciennes collections répertoriées. - Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, Bernard Dufour and Anna Lamparska-Rivet - Bugatti, les meubles; Bugatti, les sculptures; Bugatti, les autos - Éditions de la Différence/Galerie Beaubourg Paris, 1995. A bronze print of Petit éléphant au repos is reproduced on page 199. Rembrandt Bugatti - Elephants Rembrandt Bugatti devoted most of his life to the meticulous observation of animals, capturing their posture, movement and energy and translating them into sculpture1. His varied repertoire includes domestic animals from his daily life, as well as wild species seen in zoos. Based in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, the artist spent fifteen years assiduously visiting the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes, where he studied many exotic mammals - such as elephants, which were to occupy a central place in his sculptural work. Later, his exile in Antwerp enabled him to work at the Jardin Zoologique, then one of the most renowned in the world. Here, too, he observed with fascination these imposing pachyderms, whose power and majesty he succeeded in capturing in sculptures imbued with a sensitive realism. The combination of power, grace and vulnerability of these majestic animals was an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Bugatti. He created several sculptures of elephants, in each of which, despite the variety of poses and dimensions, he summoned the very essence of this imposing yet delicate animal. He translated their expressions and emotions with a certain plastic vitality, in which relief and light played an essential role. Using his thumb as his main tool, and working with malleable materials such as plastiline, he approached the animals' attitudes with a synthetic approach that favored intuition and observation over strict anatomical study. Also, with our Little Elephant at Rest, it's interesting to note the distinctive modelling of the skin's surface. of the animal's thick, wrinkled, cracked, moving skin, which he treats with synthesis and geometric volume. This gives our work, and all his sculptures in general, an unrivalled dynamism and sensitivity. [This unique approach sets Bugatti apart from other animal sculptors]2. 1- Source for the elements cited in this text: Véronique Fromanger - Rembrandt Bugatti sculpteur - Une trajectoire foudroyante (Rembrandt Bugatti, a sculptor). Une trajectoire foudroyante - Répertoire monographique - Les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2016. 2- Ibid, p. 40.