Stalking Panther

Alexander Phimister Proctor (1860–1950)

Bronze; 9 1/2 x 37 1/2 x 6 1/4 in. (24.1 x 95.3 x 15.9 cm)

Proctor based a before time account of "Stalking Panther" on youth observations in Colorado, studies of panthers in New York's Central Park Zoo, and dissections of cats and cougars. “Stalking Panther” was exhibited at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893; the statuette was shown the following year at the Society of American Artists in New York. In 1894, Proctor went to Paris and brought along a plaster cast of "Stalking Panther" in order to keep on refining the work. Using a shaved cat for anatomical reference, he finished the second version and had it cast in bronze. The Metropolitan's statuette is presumed to be from this second version. The work is more than an anatomical evaluation of an extended or stretched out cat in mid-stride; the piece is a psychologically appealing study of predatory gesture towards an unseen prey, reflecting the artist's awareness in portraying animals as forces of uncivilized nature.