REMBRANDT BUGATTI. THE SCULPTOR 1884 - 1916 Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, 28 march - 27 july 2014

Schon als Jugendlicher hatte Bugatti zu seinem Thema gefunden: dem Tier. Genaue Beobachtungsgabe, Einfu?hlungsvermögen und eine stupende Beherrschung bildhauerischer Mittel prägen sein Werk. Eindrucksvoll zeigt der Band Bugattis Talent, unvergleichlich lebensnahe Porträts zu erschaffen. In der Tradition des Impressionismus wurzelnd, lässt seine plastische Handschrift Anklänge an Expressionismus und Vorboten des Art D?co erkennen. Zahlreiche Fotografien vermitteln einen lebendigen Eindruck von Bugattis Persönlichkeit und Umfeld. Essays fu?hren durch die Stationen seines Lebens in Mailand, Antwerpen und Paris, wo er sich mit nur 31 Jahren das Leben nahm.

Rembrandt Bugatti was one of the most remarkable and independently inventive sculptors of the early twentieth century. Although his career was cut short by his tragic suicide at age 31, he produced more than three hundred works, including the small-scale bronze animal sculptures for which he is best known. Rembrandt Bugatti: The Sculptor offers a comprehensive retrospective of Bugatti's brief but highly productive career. Making his first professional appearance at the Venice Biennale in 1902, Bugatti followed in the tradition of the great impressionists Medardo Rosso, Edgar Degas, and Auguste Rodin, with additional influences from art nouveau, symbolism, and the elegance of the Belle Epoque, the latter through well-known Russian sculptor and friend of the family, Prince Paul Troubetzkoy. Animals remained a common theme throughout Bugatti's work and presented ample opportunities for experimentation, since they were well-established neither in the academic tradition nor as a theme in art.