The Soul of Contentment (Black Bear)

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.