Dylan Lewis (South African b. 1964) Awakening Leopard Maquette Bronze Signed and numbered 1/15 S354 Height: 26cm (10 1/4in.) Width: 95cm (37 3/8in.) In artist's original signed crate Conceived in 1998. Provenance: The artist's studio, Stellenbosch, South Africa Born in 1964 in Johannesburg, South Africa Lewis has emerged as one of the leading figures in contemporary sculpture throughout the world. Lewis was born into a family of artists and it was under their encouragement and tutelage that inspired him to practise the arts. His father Robin Lewis, great-grandfather Thomas Rayfon Lewis and grandmother Renee Hughes were all established artists. Lewis studied art at the Cape Technikon in 1982. His passion and interest in the natural world and wildlife was clear from the very beginning. Between 1985 and 1989 he worked at Rondevlei Nature Reserve. It was here that he worked as taxidermist studying the anatomy of animals and looking at them in minute detail. In 1989 he studied painting at the Ruth Prowse School of Art and went on to spend a year painting and sculpting in the Timbavati Nature Reserve in Mpumalanga. In 1994 moved to Mulberry Farm in Stellenbosch where he built a studio and bronze foundry. In 2017 the Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden officially opened to the public displaying a magnificent array of large-scale gargantuan sculpture against the backdrop of the mountains together with macquette spread through the gardens as the visitor is encouraged to meander through the beautifully curated and sculpted land. Lewis works from direct observation, continually sketching to understand the forms and how movement emerges. Lewis then turns to sculpture making small compositional studies before working on the large-scale works and maquettes in bronze. The Awakening Leopard is from the Leopard Creek series where the artist explored the animals different states as it awakes from its slumber through to stalking and killing. He studied the supple animal in great detail looking at the curve of the tail through to the twisting form of the outstretched body.