Panther and Cubs

Edward Kemeys

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kemeys was America’s first animalier (animal sculptor) of significance. His works were inspired by the untamed beasts he observed during frequent trips to the mountains and plains of the American West from the 1870s to the 1890s. He favored the American panther, depicting the animal in varied emotional states, from fierce combativeness to the maternal tenderness exemplified in this group. The surface treatment of the bronze reflects Kemeys’s concern, first, for psychological expression and, second, for anatomical correctness. The cats’ coats are loosely modeled, while the longer fur of the mother’s chest and hindquarters is rendered in broad strokes.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art