Bronze Sculpture of Rembrandt Bugatti’s ‘Ours Brun Marchant, La Patte Droite en Avant’

Bugatti’s “Ours Brun Marchant, La Patte Droite en Avant” also known as “Brown Bear Walking,” depicts a bear mid step in a relaxed position, on all fours, as if calmly surveying its surroundings. Bugatti has managed to capture the bear’s thick fur, with detailed texturing, capturing the natural look and feel of its coat. The bear has an intense, focused gaze. The overall form is robust and solid, embodying the bear’s natural power and majesty. As the brown bear paces within its small enclosure, Rembrandt Bugatti captures the rippling fur of its coat with streaks of plasticine. Its hind leg juts forward, part of a striking pattern of opposing movements. By the time Bugatti visited the Antwerp zoo in 1909, brown bears were housed in three cave-like dens, covered in ivy. The enclosure was meant to replicate Italian grottoes as they were depicted in paintings of the Romantic movement.