Aristide Maillol (born December 8, 1861, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France - died September 27, 1944, near his hometown) was a French sculptor, painter and engraver, illustrator and tapestry designer.
He is best known for his classic portrayal of female nudes. Starting his career as a painter, he switched to three-dimensional work around 1897 when his eyesight began to fail. These early works by Aristide Maillol-mostly wood carvings and terracotta figurines-provided the basis for his later work, most of which was eventually cast in bronze. He was also influenced by Greek sculpture, mainly after visiting Athens in 1906.
Characteristic of creativity
Aristide Maillol began his artistic career as an artist and tapestry designer. His early work reflected admiration for the groupFrench artists "Nabis" (Nabis), whose work consisted, as a rule, of decorative patterns. The artist was almost 40 years old when vision problems forced him to move away from weaving tapestries. So he turned his attention to sculpture.
In adulthood, Aristide Maillol abandoned the highly emotional sculpture of his contemporary Auguste Rodin, preferring to preserve the sculptural traditions of classical Greece and Rome. "Mediterranean" (c. 1901) and "Night" (1902) demonstrate emotional restraint, a clear composition, which the sculptor used in his work until the end of his life. Most of his work depicts mature female forms, which he tried to imbue with symbolic meaning.
After 1910, Maillol became world famous and received a steady stream of commissions. Due to his inherent strict economy of aesthetic means, he repeatedly used the same object, varying it from work to work. Only in The River and Bound Liberty did Aristide Maillol change his basic formula, presenting the human figure in action.
He resumed painting in 1939, but sculpture remained his favorite medium. He also made many woodcut illustrations for the works of such ancient poets as Virgil and Ovid. In the 1920s and 30s, he did a lot to revive the art of the book.
Although Maillol's connection with the art of the past was strong, his interest in form and geometry helped establish and develop abstract sculptors such as Constantin Brancusi and Jean Arp.
Almost all creativityartist and sculptor represents a female nude figure. The most famous works that Aristide Maillol created are Mediterranean Sea (1902, Museum of Modern Art, New York), Torso of Nereid (1905) and Cyclist Knee (1907, Musée d'Orsay).
Early life and academic preparation
Mayol was born in Banyuls-sur-Mer, Roussillon in 1861. At an early age he decided to become a painter and moved to Paris in 1881 to study. Initially, he could not enter the French Academy of Fine Arts and lived in poverty for some time, until he was nevertheless admitted to the Academy in 1885. Here he studied under the painter and sculptor Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), whose academic style included historical painting, portraits of characters from Greek mythology, and painting of the Orient. Also Maillol's teacher was Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889), who painted classical and religious images in an academic style.
The beginning of creative activity
Aristide Maillol considered this training old-fashioned and took up contemporary art, including the work of Paul Gauguin (primitivism) and Puvis de Chavannes. He also joined the Nabis group of post-impressionist avant-garde artists who developed the Art Nouveau style of fine and graphic art in France in the 1890s. Other members of the group were Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Georges Lacombe and Maurice Denis. Maillol's portraits of that time show the influence of the group, in particular, this was manifested in the use of decorativecompositions and flat color areas.
Examples of his works from this period are Laundresses (1890) and Woman with Umbrella (1895). The last one shows a young woman in profile standing in front of a seascape. The lack of connection between the figure and the landscape clearly indicates that the portrait was painted in the artist's studio. Maillol painted the figure motionless, in a classic decorative manner. Halfway between portrait and allegory, this painting is considered the masterpiece of his painting career.
Tapestry
The strong influence of the decorative arts and Gothic tapestry art at the Musée Cluny (Paris) inspired Maillol. He believed that the tapestries are on a par with the paintings of Cezanne and Van Gogh. This made such an impression on him that in 1893 he founded his own workshop in Banyul. The tapestries he created were decorative, bright and very colorful. His patron, Princess Bibesco, bought many works, including the tapestry Music for a Bored Princess (1897).
Maillol continued to create tapestries, until he had to quit his job in 1900 due to vision problems. Instead, he turned his attention to pottery and sculpture.
Sculpture
Aristide Maillol first carved figures from pieces of wood, showing the influence of the Art Nouveau style. "Dancing Woman", "Woman with Mandolin", and "Woman Seated in a Contemplative Posture" are examples of wood carvings from this period. Howeverhowever, the sculptor found the wood carving process too slow, so he quickly moved on to clay figurines. He also modeled small terracotta nude figurines.
In 1902, Maillol received support from the famous art dealer Ambroise Vollard, who also patronized other unknown artists, including Paul Cezanne, Renoir, Louis W alt, Georges Rouault, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, at the beginning their careers. Thanks to Vollard, Maillol found buyers willing to pay for figures cast in bronze. This allowed him to focus exclusively on sculpture.
In 1902, Vollard organized Mayol's first solo exhibition, which included his tapestries, figurines, paintings and first sculptures.
First big works
In 1900, Maillol began work on his first major sculpture, Seated Woman, which he later renamed Mediterranean Sea. Thought . The first version of this work was completed in 1902 and is kept at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Not completely satisfied with this attempt, he began work on another version. It was placed in an almost perfect cube and designed in such a way that it could only be viewed from one point. Art historians at the time claimed that Maillol was a classical painter in the style of Cezanne.
The work was exhibited at the Autumn Salon in 1905. The sculpture attracted the attention of we althy patrons who wished to receive bronze casts. BUTthe French government eventually commissioned their own version in 1923 (now in the Musée d'Orsay).
Other significant examples of bronze sculpture from this period are Desire (1905-07) and Cyclist (1907). Although Maillol mostly sculpted nude women, The Cyclist is one of three images of men he created, representing cyclist Gaston Colin. The sculpture of Aristide Maillol Pomone (Pomona) also belongs to this period.
Late works
In 1908, the sculptor's patron took him to Greece, where he was able to study classical art. In his mature works, much attention is paid to the study of the female body. Works from this period include Night (1909); "Flora and Summer" (1911); "Spring" (1911); "Ile-de-France" (1910-25); "Venus" (1918–28); (1930–37); monument to Claude Debussy (marble, 1930–33, Saint-Germain-en-Laye), Harmony (1944) and others.
Maillol's simplified classicism became a de facto international style during the interwar period. It was adopted by the Facist movement (part of "Facist Fashion"), which argued that music, fashion and culture could not be explained through logic and common sense. One of Maillol's students, Arno Breker (1900-91), became the leading sculptor in Nazi Germany.
Legacy
His muse and favorite model was Dina Verney, to whom he bequeathed his entire fortune and collection. She opened a gallery that later became the Maillol Museum.
An outstanding painter and sculptor died in 1944 in a car accident. Largecollections of his works are kept in Paris, in the Musée Mayol and in the Musée d'Orsay. His figural bronzes are considered the forerunners of the great simplification in the art of Alberto Giacometti and Henry Moore.
