Cat Maquettes

“Dylan Lewis is one of South Africa’s most acclaimed contemporary sculptors, internationally recognised for his powerful portrayals of wild animals, particularly big cats. Over the past several decades, he has established himself as a master at capturing the spirit and muscular energy of Africa’s predators.

While his oeuvre spans both animalia as well as human figures, Lewis’s cat sculptures represent the cornerstone of his artistic identity. For the artist, large cats are archetypal symbols of wilderness, and these new bronze maquettes reveal his extraordinary ability to convey both the physical might and spiritual essence of these alpha hunters.

Lewis’s sculptures emerge from his deep knowledge of these wild creatures, gained through extensive observation and detailed anatomical studies. His technical mastery allows him to capture the sinewy tension of a cheetah’s haunches as it closes in on an impala, or its watchful gaze as it surveys the terrain from its perch.

Lewis’ animals are not merely observed – they are invoked. Through surface, texture and form, he reveals the paradox of wild grace: power held in restraint, lithe explosiveness held in silence. What emerges is less a depiction of species than a meditation on being. The leopard’s contained intensity, the cheetah’s fluid alertness, and the prey’s quick-wittedness become mirrors for our own instinct, vulnerability, and the perpetual negotiation between control and surrender.

These sculptures invite us to recognize, in their quiet authority, a shared, untamed pulse. Lewis urges us to encounter not only the essence of these elusive cats but the deeper rhythms that bind all living things: attention, tension, release. The works linger like a held breath, reminding us that the wild is not elsewhere; it waits, attentive and enduring, within and all around us.

For more than three decades, Lewis has cemented himself as one of the great sculptors of our time, and here again he presents a masterclass in manifesting these beautiful creatures, coiled with stillness and tense with intent. At once effortless and rhapsodic, with ferocity and vigour in every mark.“

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