André Vincent Becquerel Building and Garden Elements

A rare and fabulous French Art Deco large bronze signed sculpture of a bunting panther by Andre Vincent Becquerel, French, 1893-1981 This lovely cast, in a warm dark brown patina with green undertones is sculpted with highly stylized anatomical details. The sculpture rests on self base. Becquerel's favorite subject matter was cats. He often captured them in a natural setting, stretching, stalking, clawing at a tree stump or walking in tandem. The model offered here with the panther bunting/rubbing against a stump of a tree is a rare version. This innate feline behavior is seen as a sign of affection, or of a transfer of their scent to claim territory or marking you as a friend. Becquerel was born in northern France. He attended the École des Beaux-arts in Paris and studied in the ateliers of Hector Lemaître and Prosper Lecourtier, the Animalier sculptor. He also worked with Charles Valton, who had studied under both Barye and Fremiet, two other renown animalier sculptors. He began exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1914 and continued to do so for the rest of his career. In 1944 Becquerel was awarded a bronze medal by The ‘Artistes Français’ and a gold medal in 1945. In 1952 he won the Prix de l’Yser, which made him hors concours and thus above the future competition process. Cubist, Impressionism, Expressionism, Futurism, Modernism, Realism, Cubism, Piero Palazzolo...