52. The Bird Catcher is Biting [cca. 1920]

Branislav Dešković (Pučišća, 1883. – Vrapče, 1939.) began his sculpting career as a twenty-year-old at the Venetian Accademia di Belle Arti under the mentorship of Antonio Dal Zòtto. In 1907, he moved to Paris where he systematically exhibited at the Salon, occasionally returning to his native Dalmatia. During the First World War, he volunteered and went to Montenegro, Geneva, and Paris and engaged himself politically for a free federal Yugoslavia. With deteriorating physical and mental health, from 1921 until his death, he lived in Split. His sculptural work initially was shaped by the influence of Italian verists, and in Paris, he created realistic works with impressionistic features, looking up to Rodin. Dešković remains remembered in modern Croatian sculpture, even though he is not sufficiently valued, as a highly talented animalist who with ease and a high level of realism modeled dogs and horses in typical poses.

Dimensions

depth 23 cm, width 35 cm, height 18 cm

Description

plaster, signed at the base "Dešković"

Research information

The version of the work is documented and reproduced in Duško Kečkemet's monograph, "Dešković", Zagreb, 1977, on page 105, under catalog number 23, "The Sneaky Dog".

Dating

cca. 1920

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