Rembrandt Bugatti

Bugatti family collection, France

M^es Loudmer-Poulain, Palais d'Orsay, Paris, 9 June 1977, lot 59

Ébé Bugatti collection, Paris

M^es Loudmer-Poulain, Paris, 21 May 1980, lot 87

Bernard Laurent collection, Villefranche-sur-Mer

Thence by descent to the present owner

Mary Harvey, The Bronzes of Rembrandt Bugatti (1885-1916) An Illustrated Catalogue and Biography, London, 1979, the model referenced under n° 134, p. 90

Philippe Dejean, Carlo-Rembrandt-Ettore-Jean Bugatti, Paris, 1981, p. 224

Jacques-Chalom des Cordes, Véronique Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti. Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1987, p. 34

Véronique Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti Répertoire monographique, 2009, Paris, the model referenced under n° 158, p. 286

Véronique Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti Répertoire monographique, 2025, Paris, the model referenced under n° 157, p. 311

Rembrandt Bugatti, Exposition rétrospective, Société royale de Zoologie, Antwerp, 1955

Born into a wealthy Philadelphia family, Samuel Stockton White III (1873 - 1962) trained in gymnastics and bodybuilding from an early age, first in his native city and then in Cambridge, England.

White moved to Paris in the early 20th century, where he met Auguste Rodin, who asked him to pose for him. Between 1901 and 1904, the sculptor created L'Athlète, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a sculpture inspired by White's harmonious musculature and athletic presence. White became an active member of the American Art Association of Paris, a circle of art lovers and collectors, and met Rembrandt Bugatti. Fascinated by this athletic body, Bugatti departed from his animal world to place his art at the service of the human, sculpting a bust of great finesse, where the physical presence and inner depth of the model shine through.

Samuel White Sotckton married artist Vera McEntire in Los Angeles in 1915. Together they built up a remarkable art collection, enriched by their shared taste for modern sculpture. A large part of their collection was bequeathed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the plaster model of our bust is preserved.

To date, our example is the only bronze known to exist.

This lot is sold with a certificate of authenticity from Mrs Véronique Fromanger.