Description
Tembo by Robert Bateman
(Giclee Canvas Museum Edition: 60 x 80, 50 s/n 12 AP, $4800.00 U.S.)
(42 x 56, 99 s/n 33 AP, $2295.00 U.S.)
(30 x 40, 180 s/n 40 AP, $1195.00 U.S.)
“Elephants deserve the high stature they enjoy. We humans appreciate them not just for their impressive size,
but also for their high order of intelligence and sophisticated social structure. Unlike most animals, they care
about each other’s welfare. Most herds are composed of adult females and young. When the juvenile males
start to take too much interest in “the girls,” they are expelled form the herd and roam in loose bachelor
groups that are much smaller in size than the family groups. My family and I encountered one such bachelor
group in a park in northeast Kenya. We were delighted and surprised to find several bulls with very large tusks.
Frighteningly, this area is right within the range of organized gangs of poachers, particularly in Somalia.
Although the park is patrolled against poaching, the rangers are too few in number and are usually
out-gunned. Those tusks must be awfully tempting to the illicit ivory trade. We hoped the bulls we saw
there would stay close to the tourist areas for safety. We, however, got too close to this fellow. Though
his tusks were large, he was young and feisty and presented us with an impressive false charge. He is
“Tembo” in Swahili – a familiar term for elephant. I hope that he will live to a ripe old age and pass
on his genes to future generations of elephants so future generations of humans can appreciate them.”
Robert Bateman
Biography
Robert Bateman has been called the most famous living artist. He continues to paint and tour the world to promote conservation and preservation of nature. We have represented Robert Bateman for decades and are now the sole publisher and distributor of his reproductions. We are so honored to work with him and witness his success. He has made such a massive contribution to the art world and the natural world as an artist and educator of the earth’s most important resources.
Nature as a subject is becoming more and more popular as our environment is in peril. What better subject is there than the beautiful creatures we share this world with? Robert Bateman’s appreciation and understanding of nature are apparent in his paintings. He is able to paint flora and fauna the way your eye would perceive it in real life. It is important that the animal takes full attention. The background becomes muted, and therefore it doesn’t take too much focus away from the subject. His paintings seem effortless and masterful all at once.
Bateman’s eye for composition is unparalleled. Each painting is a composed like a symphony, leading the eye to wander. From the backyards of North America to the sprawling plains of Africa. Robert Bateman captures nature the way it should be enjoyed. Above all he is a champion of wildlife. For this reason he has become a household name for art collectors.
