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Bohemian Bear Tamer / Paul Wayland Bartlett, 1865 - 1925 (Artist)

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A life-size plaster with two bear cubs won an Honorable Mention in the Paris Salon of 1887. As a young man Bartlett signed a 10-year contract to cast the Bear Tamer with the Paris foundry, Siot-Decauville Perzinka, in 1887. The foundry sand cast two sizes, this cast being the larger size. Bartlett earned about 16%—95 francs of the 600 charged for the sale of each large-size bronze. 10 casts were sold in 1888. Apparently unsatisfied with that arrangement, Bartlett withdrew to his studio for some years during the contract period, installed a small foundry and experimented with casting his own small works in lost wax and doing his own patination. A number of these small studio works were exhibited in Saint Louis at the 1904 World’s Fair. Bartlett had aided both Gorham and the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Works in setting up lost-wax facilities with French foundry workers, but neither achieved commercial viability.

From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.

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Title(s): 
Bohemian Bear Tamer; The (Bohemian) Bear Tamer
Creator(s): 
Paul Wayland Bartlett, 1865 - 1925 (Artist)
Culture: 
American
Date: 
modeled 1887; sand cast between 1887 and 1897
Materials/Techniques: 
sand cast in bronze
Classification: 
Object Type: 
Accession No: 
08.57
Previous Number(s): 
0876.57; 17823
Department: 
Not On View

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