PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, NEW YORK






















Carl Ethan Akeley (1864-1926)


The Charging Herd signed and dated, 'Carl E. Akeley. / © 1915 -,' inscribed with title 'The Charging Herd,' numbered and inscribed 'cast for / John T. McCutcheon / limited to ten copies No. 1 / C.A. 11-19-15' and stamped 'Roman Bronze Works N-Y-' (along the base)bronze with dark brown patina13 1/2in highModeled in 1915.
|ProvenancePrivate collection, New York.Private collection, by descent from the above.Sale, Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas, May 10, 2014, lot 70179.Acquired by the present owner from the above.ExhibitedNew York, American Museum of Natural History, In the Studio, April 22, 1914, no. 11.Chicago, Illinois, The Art Institute of Chicago, Twenty-Ninth Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings and Sculpture, November 2-December 7, 1916, no. 330.LiteratureThe American Museum Journal, vol. XIV, no. 5, May 1914, clay model illustrated on cover. (probably) "The Work of Carl E. Akeley," The American Museum Journal, n.d., pp. 172-178.Carl Ethan Akeley was, in addition to an accomplished sculptor, a renowned taxidermist and wildlife conservationist. He greatly improved upon traditional taxidermy techniques resulting in more naturalistic displays. He is credited with having invented the natural history diorama, comprised of painted scenes of habitats behind taxidermized figures, which can still be viewed in natural history museums today. One of his most famous projects is in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, where the great hall of African Mammals is named after Akeley. The Charging Herd possibly served as a prototype for this museum's colossal display of African elephants. The cast of The Charging Herd, comprised of seven figures, was modeled while the artist designed the American Museum of Natural History's display of eight elephants. These authentically detailed elephants are based on a yearlong safari expedition Akeley made to Africa in 1909, on behalf of the Natural History Museum, which was also attended by President Theodore Roosevelt. John T. McCutcheon, to whom the present work is inscribed and was gifted, was a friend of Akeley's and a fellow explorer, who also attended the 1909 expedition. Akeley had a remarkable background as an adventurer. On one safari in 1896, he famously killed a leopard that had lunged at him with his bare hands. He was also an inventor, notably having created a video camera, which led to the possibility of video safaris to capture the essence of exotic animals in the wild, rather than shooting safaris. There is a great naturalistic quality in the present work, which depicts accurately the musculature of these majestic creatures. Akeley's composition conveys a strong sense of movement of the herd pushing forward. The complexity and naturalism found in The Charging Herd is a result of Akeley's adventurous spirit and firsthand knowledge of the animals he memorialized.