Dylan Lewis animal bronzes at Christie's South Kensington June 16th

    South African artist Dylan Lewis is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost sculptors of the animal form. For almost two decades he has exhibited extensively, both in his home country and around the world.  A Christie's auction dedicated to his work in June 2007 was an overwhelming success, firmly placing Dylan on the global art world's stage. The auction was 100% sold and introduced new collectors from all over the world to his work.

    On June 16th a second solo auction of Lewis’s animal works entitled Predators and Prey Part II consisting of 58 animal bronzes ranging from maquettes to life-size, will be auctioned. The sale at Christie's South Kensington will be Lewis’s last solo auction of his animal sculptures.

   Here's one for your lounge.

White Rhino, Life-size bronze
104¾" high; 87½" wide; 177" long
The edition of this cast is AP1, of an edition of 4. Estimate: £250,000-350,000

    The first rhinoceros done by Lewis was a life-size Black Rhino commissioned in 1995 by the then Natal Parks Board for its centenary celebrations. It was the first time that Lewis sculpted on such a massive scale and he so enjoyed the challenge that from then on he began to conceive all of his works as large-scale. The first edition of the Centennial Rhinoceros was unveiled by then President Nelson Mandela and still stands in the Hluhluwe Umfolozi National Park in KwaZulu-Natal, where it was made. In 2000 Lewis returned to the theme of the rhino, this time the White Rhino. The subject was enormously large and bulky, with its dusty, muddy appearance seemed to him the equivalent of landscape made flesh. Once again Lewis has used the compositional idea of merging the animal with the landscape, the triangular shape of the base accentuates the forward thrust of the animal, increasing the dynamic energy of this piece.

   You can view the catalogue online here.

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