French artist Robert Dallet loved big cats. Until the end of his life in 2006, Dallet devoted his art to documenting their grace and majesty. A new exhibit at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich focuses on Dallet’s work and draws attention to the wildcat-conservation initiative bearing his name.
The show was conceived by wildcat conservation organization Panthera and Hermes, the luxury-goods retailer that uses Dallet’s cats in its designs.
Hermes artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas said that at the time of his death, Dallet was afraid that big cats would become extinct and that he died “with a heavy heart.”
His watercolor paintings show his love for the creatures, emphasizing the nobility of the cats at rest, on the prowl and snuggling with their loved ones. Jaguars scope out their territory from high, thick branches of trees. A lion chases an antelope and hovers protectively over his lioness. Cheetahs strike elegant poses. Tigers pounce and prowl. Gray and yellow pumas stalk through the wild, showing their impressive musculature unobscured by a patterned pelt.
Dallet wrote, in a 1984 statement, “I paint animals, which are wild in name only. I hope that, tomorrow, these drawings are not all we have of them.”
Funds raised to support the Robert Dallet Initiative will be spent on helping rebuild lion populations in Africa; building a wildlife corridor for jaguars in Latin America; increasing the population of the animals on which snow leopards feed in Tajikistan; protecting Asian tigers from poachers; and distributing faux leopard ceremonial capes to tribesmen in Africa to protect leopards from being killed for their pelts. Details: panthera.org.
“FIERCE AND FRAGILE: BIG CATS IN THE ART OF ROBERT DALLET” will be at the Bruce Museum, One Museum Drive in Greenwich, until March 15. A talk, “Hermes: A Natural History” will be held on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 6:30 p.m. brucemuseum.org
