Lot 111: JEAN GEORGES PIERRE ACHARD

JEAN GEORGES PIERRE ACHARD FRENCH 1871-1934 BUST OF WILLIAM FREDERICK "BUFFALO BILL" CODY (C.1846 - 1917) signed and dated: J. G. Achard 1911 and inscribed: Offert par la Poetique au ... [indistinct word] Juin 1911 and inscribed: H GONOT with a further indistinct inscription bronze, dark brown patina 69.5cm., 27 3/8 in.

William Frederick Cody was born into a Quaker family in Peel County near Toronto. His father Isaac was a fervent anti-slavery campaigner and was a martyr to the cause after he was stabbed by a promoter of slavery in 1857. William became a scout for the United States Army and was awarded the Medal of Honor for "gallantry in action" in 1872. He earnt the soubriquet of "Buffalo Bill" for killing 4,280 American bison in 8 months to supply meat to the workers on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. In 1883 he founded his famous "Buffalo Bill's Wild West", a circus style show featuring real-life characters of the American West such as the Native American Sitting Bull and the sharp-shooter Annie Oakley. In 1887 the show came to England and played before Queen Victoria. In 1889 the show played at the Exposition Universelle. The French president attended, as did the Shah of Persia. The stars of the show became world famous and their features well-known through widely distributed postcards. The present portrait may have been based on one such image. According to Bénézit, Achard was particularly well known for his busts of personalities of the day.

RELATED LITERATURE
E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des peintres sculpteurs dessinateurs et graveurs, Paris, 1999, vol. 1, p. 44