Aristide Joseph-Bonaventure Maillol, Aristides Maillol, or Aristide Maillol is well recognized as one of the greatest French Catalan sculptors of his time. He was a painter too. Born in Banyuls-sur-Mer, on December 8, 1861, his father was a ship captain, an angler, and a cultivator of vineyards. Maillol attended a local school initially and went to Perpignan to complete his education. All this while, he developed interest in art at an early age and aspired to be a painter. To further his creative inclination, in 1881, he moved to Paris, and started studying at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, from 1885. There, he was trained under Jean-Leon Gerome and Alexandre Cabanel. Like many other late nineteenth century artists, Aristide too found his teachers sterile & pointless for the most part, and soon grew restless with their academic teachings. Disappointed, Mallilol joined the Nabi's group with Bonnard and Vuillard, and started painting as a Post-Impressionist, with Symbolist influence.
In 1884, Maillol saw his contemporaries, Paul Gauguin's and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes', paintings that deeply impressed him. He then got interested in 'Decorative Arts' and started 'Tapestry Designing.' In 1893, Maillol returned to Banyuls and opened a tapestry workshop there. He would create the designs and dyed the wools in vibrant and unique colors. High technicality & the aesthetic quality of his works, while also credited with reviving the 'Tapestry Designing' art form, soon fetched him recognition. Soon however, Maillol had to shut his tapestry shop, due to his weakening eyesight. He though stopped designing tapestries, but continued working as a 'Graphic Artist.'
Aristide Maillol began sculpting with terra cotta and wood in 1898. He returned to Paris in 1900 to concentrate full time on the art form. In 1902, Maillol had his first solo exhibition at Galerie Vollard. In 1903, he settled in Marly-le-roi, on the outskirts of Paris, where he also built his studio in 1904. By 1905, Maillol's works were cast in bronze. The same year, the artist gained true fame when his first large statue "The Mediterranean" was highly appreciated at the Salon d'Automne exhibition.
The main subject of Artisde's sculptural works was the mature female form, treated with 'stable' gestures, flavored with 'Classicism,' such as in "The Night" (1902) and "The Pomona" (1907). Often his works were repetitive in essence, differing only in their names. Overall, his sculptures were known for their simplicity, grace, and harmonious balance. His style, although similar to Greek and Roman sculptures, had a certain degree of sensuousness and dignity integrated in them. Aristide's style remained unchanged through the years, the only exception being his work on the monuments he built in the memory of Socialist Louis Blanqui (Chained Action, 1906).
By 1910, Aristide Maillol was famous worldwide and he received a number of commissions for monuments, including war memorials for Ceret and Banyuls. His other impressive works were "Three Nymphs" (1936-1938), "The Mountain" (1937), "Air" (1938), and "The River" (1938-43). Three of his bronze masterpieces, "Summer" (1910-11), "Venus without arms" (1920), and "Kneeling Woman: Monument to Debussy" (1950-55), grace the staircase of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. In 1912, Maillol even made woodcuts, illustrating Daphnis & Chloe and the works of Ovid & Vergil. He died in Banyuls in an auto accident on September 27, 1944, at the age of eighty-three.
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