The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore
You still have time. The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore will be hosting their Antoine Louis Barye exhibit “Untamed” until May 6th.
Barye had a way of piling animal bodies on top of each other that makes bronzes snarl with life, and the Walters shows them off well. Imagine a long rambling room of well displayed and lit bronzes, a frozen highlight reel of Animal Planet.
Now imagine threading through the various animals eating each other while playing the delicate dance and retreat of a first date. My date and I would float close, side by side while staring at a cougar taking down a stag, then separate and wander across the room in opposite directions, almost as if she meant for me to get a good look at the slender profile of her jeans.
And then she’d watch me quizzically while I tried to explain why I would want a assemblage of elephants, men and tigers all trying to kill each other as my centerpiece in my dinning room. The Duke of Orleans had, but I gather that made her question his taste as well.
We agreed that Barye’s paintings were not as good as his sculptures (though I’m glad they were included in the exhibit) and we agreed that we would pronounce his name “Barry” even though we were both quite sure we were mispronouncing it.
All our agreement didn’t dampen the exciting feeling of the hunt, a fraction of the excitement Barye carved into his bronze hunts.
So get a move on. You’re lucky Barye’s in Baltimore like this. The next closest spot to see much of this guy, one of the greatest sculptors of animals ever, is the Louvre, and that makes for a much more expensive date.
