Georges Guyot

Private collection, France

E. Horswell, Sculpture of Les Animaliers 1900-1950, Sladmore Gallery, London, 2019, p. 157

From an early age, Georges Guyot dedicated his life and career to the study of animals. His frequent visits to the Parisian Jardin des Plantes and its museum intensified his knowledge of animals’ anatomy, yet it is their psychology which he hoped to understand and convey in his idiosyncratic sculpture and paintings. From 1906 he regularly showed his work at the Paris Salon, and continued to exhibit after the First World War, primarily the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d’Automne. In 1931 he became a member of the Groupe des Douze, created at the initiative of François Pompon at the Jardin des Plantes. Guyot executed several important monuments in Paris, including the Grand Ours for the Jardin des Plantes, and his work is housed in numerous museums throughout France.