Striding Deer 2 (Schreitendes Reh 2)

August Gaul was a sculptor who followed in the tradition of the nineteenth-century French ‘animaliers,’ who became known for their bronzes of various animals, often observed in the newly created Parisian Zoo. Gaul was Germany’s best-known animal sculptor and was commissioned for large monuments in addition to creating small tabletop sculptures like the one proposed for acquisition. “Striding Deer 2” of 1919 reimagines a similarly sized cast bronze of the same subject Gaul executed in 1913. This later version features a smoother surface with less modelling and less anatomical detail throughout the neck, body, and back legs. In addition, the deer’s pert ears and dainty hooves are slimmer—the deer almost minces across its bronze base. Around 1917, Gaul had created a larger variation, almost thirty inches tall, of the same subject for a monument to a painter, with the deer’s head turned to the left. In form, the larger iteration exists between the 1913 and 1919 versions as the design became more and more streamlined. This sculpture was cast by the Hermann Noack foundry in Berlin.