1999, Albéric Collin
From Barye, through to Bugatti, the Sladmore Gallery seeks to showcase leading 20th century sculptors who drew inspiration from the animal world.
It therefore gives us great pleasure to present this collection of bronzes by the important Belgian artist Albéric Collin (1886-1962), the first solo exhibition of his work since his Antwerp retrospective in 1955.
Collin matured as an artist at a time when the avant-garde styles of the turn of the twentieth century had been assimilated into a modernist ‘lingua franca’. Elements of Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Futurism informed many artists’ work, and often threatened to become mere stylisations. Collin displays modernist concerns with abstract form, lively expressive texture, dynamic and inventive outline and articulated volume; yet he avoids the generic art deco formulas of some of his contemporaries, and achieves a distinctive sculptural personality of his own.
About The Artist
Born in Antwerp in 1886, Albéric Collin is today the best-known Belgian animal sculptor. His artistic career began with lively caricatures, but as well as a limited number of compositions with human figures, his extensive oeuvre includes more or less every possible kind of animal to be found inside or outside the zoo. An inventory of this work records more than 600 sculptures (and large pastel drawings), in bronze, terracotta, gypsum and sandstone. His development was crucially influenced by his encounter and years of friendship with the Italian-French animal sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti (1882–1916), who may be regarded as the true inspiration behind Collin’s work.
Exhibition Catalogue
