Aristide MAILLOL (1861-1944) - Lot 125

Aristide MAILLOL (1861-1944) Bather with raised arms Sculpture in bronze with shaded brown patina. Monogram signature on top of the terrace. Stamped "Alexis Rudier fondeur Paris" on the side of the terrace. Designed in 1899. Posthumously cast between 1944 and 1952 under the supervision of Lucien Maillol (1896-1972). Height: 28.5 cm. (Slightly faded patina). Provenance: Purchased from an art gallery in Munich in the early 1950s, then in the family by descent. We would like to thank Mr. Olivier Lorquin, expert and heir of Aristide Maillol, as well as the Fondation Dina Vierny, for kindly confirming the authenticity of this work. Bibliography : - Waldemar George, Aristide Maillol et l'âme de la sculpture, Collection " Les grandes monographies ", Éditions Ides et Calendes, Neuchâtel, 1964. - Bertrand Lorquin, Maillol aux Tuileries, Éditions Adam Biro, Paris, 1991, p. 14-15. - Bertrand Lorquin, Aristide Maillol, Éditions d'art Albert Skira, Geneva, 1994, p. 102. - Maillol. La passion du bronze", exhibition catalog, Fondation Dina Vierny-Musée Maillol, Paris, December 13, 1995-March 30, 1996, p. 41. "Copying the nude is nothing. Reproducing a nude woman is not the same as making a statue. In composing the figure of a young girl, I have to give the impression that they are all young girls", said Aristide Maillol of the female silhouettes that punctuate his work. From 1900 onwards, the artist invented a new aesthetic repertoire, having previously worked in wood with clothed female subjects. Maillol turned his attention to the nude, with three-dimensional solid forms, curved and counter-curved lines and a smooth surface. Encouraged by his muse and model Dina Vierny (1919-2009) from 1934 onwards, Maillol further combined the diversity of the female body into an ideal, uncluttered figurative statuary canon. The unity and balance of the whole give each work an imposing, silent and meditative dimension. Until 1944, the sculptor developed an intimate, impassive and eternal vision of the female body, inscribed in a space where time is suspended. The "Baigneuse aux bras levés" is a standing female nude wearing her hair with her right leg slightly raised and bent, the model for which was created in 1899. Treated in various sizes, the subject recurred throughout Maillol's career, particularly in the late 1920s, at the request of Danish collector and patron Johannes Rump (1861-1932). Since 1964, one of the large examples of this standing bather with headdress has been part of Maillol's statuary ensemble adorning the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. Our sculpture is a posthumous version of the model designed in 1899. It was executed between 1944 and 1952 under the supervision of Lucien Maillol (1896-1972), Aristide's son. Managed by Eugène Rudier (1875-1952) until his death, the Alexis Rudier foundry (1845-1897) was commissioned to cast a bronze faithful to the original, in which movement is both assured and abolished.