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View at the museum ↗The Soul of Contentment (Black Bear)
Edward KemeysModeled 1886, cast 1886–99
- Attribution
- Edward Kemeys (American, 1843–1907)
- Medium
- Bronze with black patina
- Physical dimensions
- 26.7 × 35.6 × 25.4 cm (10 1/2 × 14 × 10 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Margaret S. Watson
Museum metadata is available under CC0. Image availability and rights are separate; consult the source record.
Source rights statement: Public domain
View the museum record ↗From the museum
Edward Kemeys produced both large- and small-scale bronze sculptures—perhaps most notably, the famous lions that flank the Art Institute’s Michigan Avenue entrance ( 1893.1a and 1893.1b ), which were created for the museum’s opening during the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. The artist’s subjects were partially informed by his western travels and studies of animals in their natural habitats. Unlike his Locked in Death , however—which shows animals as predatory— Soul of Contentment is a sentimental study of nature at its most domesticated.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0