PATRICK VILLAS / Royal Boch 'Panther Bust' Art Deco style, white ceramic sculpture, ca 2000

Patrick Villas pour Royal Boch - Panther sculpture

Bust of a feline in white glazed ceramic, made by Royal Boch around 2005. Inspired by the style of Rembrandt Bugatti, it evokes the lines and textures of Art Deco works in white crackle.

Unsigned piece, in perfect condition, presented in its original ‘Royal Boch' stamped box (see photo).



Biography:

Trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Patrick Villas began by painting before abandoning himself to sculpture, which he tamed alone. It was in the heart of Antwerp Zoo, in front of the big cats, that he drew the substance of his art: the underlying energy, the nobility of movement, the gravity of the gaze.

Based in France since 2010, Villas has exhibited his work around the world. His approach oscillates between anatomical rigour and raw expressivity. Each work is born of a meticulous study of bone, but gradually disintegrates into fragmented facets, as if the material itself resisted domestication.

Villas has twice collaborated with Belgian earthenware manufacturer Royal Boch on animal series, and with Daum France, which has produced two crystal pieces - a panther's head (2018) and a lion's head (2021).

Patrick Villas' work follows in the footsteps of the animal masters, from Antoine-Louis Barye to Bugatti, while at the same time asserting a surface brutality and nervous tension all his own. It's an art that doesn't caress: it scans, it pierces.