Emmanuel Frémiet: Bull and Pelican, c. 1896

  • The Art Institute of Chicago

  • If you have ever visited us at the gallery in the past, during Masters Drawings in New York or on our stand at TEFAF Maastricht, you will have probably noticed a glazed ceramic sculpture on display. Glazed terracotta is a great passion of mine and a consistent presence in the gallery.

     

    When did it start? When one is truly invested in a particular strand of art history, this is a difficult question to answer. But if I were to think about the history of the gallery, Frémiet’s Bull and Pelican would be where it would begin.

     

    These Animaux Fantastiques were the result of an alliance between a great modeller and Émile Muller’s skills in handling enamelled stoneware; they were the first glazed ceramic works I handled in Bury Street. In their new home, the Art Institute of Chicago, they are affectionately known as ‘The Critters’ by our friend, Emerson Bowyer, Curator of European Painting and Sculpture at the Institute.

  • Emmanuel Frémiet
    1824–1910
     
    Bull and Pelican
    Glazed Stoneware

    Bull 55 x 59 x 30 cms; Pelican 58 x 60 x30 cms

    c. 1896

  • Pierino da vinci, Ugolino and His Sons, The Cleveland Museum of Art →