Lot 171: Aimé (Jé ré mie A. Delphin) Octobre (French, 1868-1943) Statue of Pierre Wibaux, 1904 height: 40in

Statue of Pierre Wibaux, 1904
inscribed 'Octobre Aime / Paris 1904' (on the base) and inscribed 'A. Bingen et Constenoble / Fondeur.Paris' (on the back edge of the base) and inscribed 'Pierre Wibaux' (on the front edge of the base)
bronze with light brown patina
height: 40in

Pierre Wibaux gave up a cotton and woolen industry in Roubaix, France to seek his fortune in the untamed wilderness of Montana. He arrived in 1883 and in 1895, the town of Mingusville and later the county of Wibaux were named in his honor. Wibaux became a millionaire cattle king of eastern Montana. He provided money for the erection of a large-scale statue of himself "overlooking the land [he] loved so well" which remains in Wibaux today. The September 1906 issue of the Montana Homeseeker, published in Helena, Montana refers to the bronze statue of Puierre Wibaux by a "famous Parisian Sculptor".