Fabric from the French word meaning ‘linen cloth’ or ‘canvas’, particularly cloth or canvas for painting on.
History of the TOILE
Vincent Bouckaert is an animal sculptor / taxidermist extraordinaire who became interested in taxidermy at the tender age of 12 when he started exploring taxidermy techniques on birds. A meeting with taxidermists from a Paleontological Museum in Paris years later helped him to choose taxidermy as his own profession and this career helped him merge his passion of fossils with his talent of sculpture.
He hunted and trained in many African bush camps before he chose to specialize in African wildlife for sculpture. Among his achievements, Vincent was awarded the grand prize in Metiers D’Art in 1997, the Cesar of French Craftsmanship in 1998 and in 2000 he was recognized among the top 2000 European artisans.
2006 was the year Vincent completed his fist unique work of toile and this was after his son, a Professional Hunter in South Africa asked him to commission a piece of art to showcase the main hunting species found in South Africa.
Vincent has patented his work in Paris to protect the value of this innovated idea for all clients who already own their own pieces of original art, each of which has an authenticated signature on it. He concentrates on zebra, kudu, sable, buffalo, giraffe and elephant.
Toiles are a mixture of taxidermy, design and art, unlike traditional taxidermy where forms are used, this new concept makes each finished toile a unique piece of sculptured art as the shape is tailored to the individual skin. Vincent’s artistic flair can be seen in the numerous poses, design and layout of the pieces and these have been accepted now both in the modern and classic deco.
Trophy Consultants International (T.C.I), the leading taxidermy business in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe propositioned Vincent to continue this work in Zimbabwe and since then he has continued to sculpt toiles in their factory since middle of 2014 where he sculptured a handful of samples for TCI to showcase at their DSC and SCI booths during 2015.
Vincent’s work can be portrayed using your own hunted trophy or alternatively, purchased as a finished piece of art. Email us for more details.
