Description
on a black marble base, signed and monogrammed in the bronze A. GAUL/ AG and with foundry stamp H. NOACK/ BERLIN/ FRIEDENAU, raised on a marble plinth
Dimensions
14.5cm long, total height 11.5cm
Footnote
Note: One of the founding members of the Berlin Secession in 1898, Gaul was a noted sculptor and lithographer with a keen interest in depicting animals. Initially working as a modeller, he went on to study at the Drawing Academy in Berlin and would spend time at the Berlin Zoo where he would produce numerous sketches and drawings. His monumental sculpture of an eagle was the German centrepiece at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, and it was subsequently bought for $10,000 to decorate one of America's first department stores, Wanamaker's. This sculpture of a walking donkey forms part of a series of six sculptures entitled 'Eselei' (meaning folly) studying the various movements of a donkey.