Bohemian Bear Tamer

Paul Wayland Bartlett

1885–87, cast 1888 · Bronze · The American Wing

Trained at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Bartlett completed Bohemian Bear Tamer, his first large group, when he was just twenty-two years old. It depicts an itinerant animal trainer with two bear cubs, one diligently responding to the animated snap of the man’s fingers, the other lazily scratching behind its ear. The bears are not aware of their potential brute power; thus, the underlying theme is man’s superiority as the thinking species. Bartlett was inspired not only by traveling shows he had seen around Paris but also by intense contemporary interest in the evolutionary principles of Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and the 1868 discovery of Paleolithic skeletons at Cro-Magnon, in southwestern France.

Artist

Paul Wayland Bartlett

Date

1885–87, cast 1888

Medium

Bronze

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of an Association of Gentlemen, 1891