Title: Bushman hunting
Medium: Bronze
Signed and Dated: 1902
Unframed: 49cm x 23cm
Anton van Wouw worked for ten months to perfect this small sculpture. The model for this small sculpture was a Bushman called Korhaan, who stayed for a year with the artist as a servant and a model. After his stay with van Wouw, Korhaan went into the service of a person who took him to America, where he was exhibited as a human rarity. Later he found his way to Barnum and Bailey’s circus, where he worked for more than thirty years (Duffey 2008:37).
This sculpture is one of the most popular of all of van Wouw’s smaller sculptures, hence many castings were made. The best and most valuable of these castings were the ones made by Giovanni Nisini of the Via Babuino 63 and the Giovanni Massa foundry in Rome. It is interesting to mention that van Wouw finished every individual figurine personally after it had been returned from the foundry before he sold it (Duffey 2008:38).
