Proud Ostrich and Raging Tiger: Animal Bronzes of the 19th Century

August Gaul, 1902, Striding Ostrich, 1903, © Bavarian State Painting Collections - Neue Pinakothek (New Pinacotheca), Munich. Photo: Nicole Wilhelms

This small exhibition of bronze animal sculptures shows the development from the pioneers of this genre, the so-called Animaliers Antoine-Louis Barye and Pierre-Jules Mêne, to leading representatives of autonomous animal sculpture such as August Gaul and Fritz Behn. A wide range of possibilities opens up: while animal sculptures were initially primarily located in the context of ruling symbolism, the depiction of farm animals represents an artistic reorientation and a departure from representative monumental art. Exotic animal species tell of the development of zoological gardens as well as the many interconnections of German colonial history.