BARYE, SCULPTOR OF ANIMALS

Elephant

BARYE, SCULPTOR OF ANIMALS

by Libby Clay

Lately “Animals in Art” tours have been rivaling “Passport” tours in popularity. Docents have been going where few went before...into the yellow, 19^th-century room to examine the realistic animal sculptures of Antoine- Louis Barye. His Elephant (63.4), an African elephant on the run, delights, while his Panther Attacking a Stag (55.4) emphasizes cruel realities of the natural world. Both amaze with their faithfulness to detail and in their transformations to miniature versions of the animals.

Barye, pronounced “bar-ree,” is usually associated with Romanticism.  However, art historical “isms” have fuzzy borders, and his early work is more like Neo-Classicism. He was greatly influenced then by the work of the English sculptor and draftsman John Flaxman (think Wedgwood). Barye produced historical and mythological works, both drawings and sculptures.

Panther Attacking a Stag

Toward the mid-point of his career, in the 1820s and 1830s, he was credited with “liberating” animal sculpture from the traditional classical noble beast to more dramatic, realistic beasts in the wild. He exploited the emotional, the moralizing, the narrative in his work.  His animals were not only anatomically accurate, they also conveyed powerful messages about the realities of untamed nature. Barye lived in a time of great political upheaval in Western Europe, especially in France. During a stint in the army he experienced firsthand the cruelty and brutality of war.  In a milieu of rapidly changing governments and wars, both internal and external, his animal sculptures reflected the chaos and frenzy of his time.

Barye was born in Paris in 1796, the son of a goldsmith.  It is interesting that many sculptors came from a goldsmithing background. At age 13 he began a series of apprenticeships, first in his father’s atelier, then with a sculptor, and finally with the goldsmith to Napoleon Bonaparte.  Here he learned the secrets of metal and foundry methods.  He also learned to miniaturize, to transform faithfully the large into smaller replicas. This was the distinctive genius of the goldsmiths, and it would be Barye’s genius in sculpture.

He also studied with the painter Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, whose romantic paintings of Napoleon “saving” France impressed him greatly. (Napoleon at Arcole and Napoleon on the Battlefield at Eylau are the best examples.) Gericault’s The Raft of the Medusa was also an influence on him. Barye was accepted at the École des Beaux-Arts, where one of his friends and fellow students was the soon-to-be famous Delacroix. Both were interested in animals and spent long hours observing and sketching the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes and the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle. Barye especially became interested in zoology and comparative anatomy, and attended autopsies of animals to increase his knowledge and understanding of their structure.

Barye’s finest productive years were the 1830s. He was exhibiting his sculptures at the Salon, and they received highly favorable reviews.  During these years an artist’s goal was the Salon, for here work could be seen by the public and, hopefully, would bring patrons. One such patron for Barye               was the young Duke of Orleans, son of the “citizen king,” Louis-Philippe. For him, Barye created an ensemble of nine sculptural groups for an elaborate table decoration, a surtout de table. The designs were of animal hunts in exotic lands or in long-ago historical periods. These purely decorative sculptures stood on their own merit and represented a breaking away from the tradition that such scenes should only be embellishments on table service, such as a salt cellar.  They inspired a small group of artist followers called the animaliers.

Barye continued to have a long and active career. He managed to remain a favorite artist through all the changing governments of France, Louis-Philippe, the provisional government of the Second Republic and the presidency of Napoleon III. He also taught, and his best-known pupil was Rodin. Barye was a great influence on not only Rodin, but also on Matisse and on Carpeaux, whose sculpture of the Breton Poet is encased in the same gallery opposite Barye‘s animals. Sadly, Barye did not receive the appreciation he deserved in our time until the 1950s. Then he was “re-discovered,” and the prices for his works increased by five to seven times. The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore and the Corcoran both have extensive collections of his work.

When we look closely at MAG’s sculptures, we are impressed with their fidelity to life and with the detail Barye has included. The wrinkles on the elephant’s neck and legs appear to have been cast rather then etched in.  Barye’s name as well as the name of the founder, “F. Barbedienne,” appears on the base. Barye was meticulous about his work and never allowed anything to leave the foundry until he was satisfied that it was perfect. Only then would he sign it.  MAG acquired this sculpture through the Marion Stratton Gould Fund.

Elk and Cougar is a remarkable work, even if it might be too violent for young sensibilities. The six-point elk is braced against the attack, his nostrils flared. The cougar, tail almost twitching, pins the elk down with his right paw as he goes for the spinal cord. Gouge marks from his claws are visible. There is no founder’s mark on this piece, but Barye has signed it.

MAG is fortunate to have two sculptures from the admirable work left by Barye. He is now regarded as the greatest animal sculptor of the French school and as the creator of a new class of art.

Sources: Benge, Glenn F., Antoine Louis Barye: Sculptor of Romantic Realism. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park and London, 1984. Clay, Jean, Romanticism (forward by Robert Rosenblum) The Vendome Press, NY, Paris, and Lausanne, 1981. (Benge’s book is available in MAG’s library and contains a number of illustrations of Barye’s works.)