Jeune Fille Assise, Se Voilant les Yeux (Young

Jeune Fille Assise, Se Voilant les Yeux (Young Girl with Arm Over Her
Eyes )
Maillol, Aristide
BOWMAN SCULPTURE
6 Duke Street St James’s, London SW1Y 6BN
Tel. +44 (0) 207 930 0277
[email protected]
www.bowmansculpture.com
JEUNE FILLE ASSISE, SE VOILANT LES YEUX
YOUNG GIRL WITH ARM OVER HER EYES
Aristide Maillol
(French, 1861–1944)
Inscribed with Monogram and stamped with foundry mark
Alexis Rudier/ Fondeur Paris
Numbered 1/6
Bronze
Height: 8 3/4 inches (22 cm)
Cast 1900
Provenance:
Perls Galleries,1016 Madison Avenue, New York
Sam Finkelstein (1924-2013) acquired from the above 1965
Nude Study by Maillol, Cleveland Art Museum, Ohio
Maillol’s work is featured in international
public collections including, amongst others,
the Musée Maillol, Paris; the Musée d’Orsay,
Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York
and the Tate, London.
Aristide Maillol, often credited as the first
modern sculptor, was fascinated in conveying
the sensual curve of the female form. In Jeune
Fille Assise, se Voilant les Yeux, Maillol depicts
a timeless image where the female’s power is
the result of her simplicity. Maillol stated:
“The important thing is the general idea...I
am seeking beauty, not character.”
As a sculptor he often worked from drawings
and would make numerous studies,
predominantly focusing on the female nude.
Many of these drawings are preserved in
important museum collections. Maillol’s
depictions of the female are simplified to the
bare essentials so that shape appears from
form. Maillol’s approach differed from Rodin
in that his sculptures did not have extreme
emotion or straining muscles, instead his
sculptures have simplified faces and smoothed,
rounded bodies.
Maillol began his career as a tapestry designer
and moved to Paris in 1881, eventually
being accepted into the Ecole des BeauxArts. In 1893, he set up a tapestry workshop
at Banyuls on the Mediterranean coast. This
continued for almost a decade until an eye
disease forced him to stop creating tapestries
and he started modeling figures in terracotta.
His first major sculpture was titled Seated
Woman, for which his wife was the model,
later renamed La Méditerranée. Exhibited in
1905 the sculpture was met with resounding
praise from important art critics including
Octave Mirbeau, Maurice Denis, and Andre
Gide, effectively launching his career as a
sculptor.
Maillol was commissioned to execute a
number of monuments, including LouisAuguste Blanqui in Puget-Théniers and
three bas-reliefs in Banyuls (1933). In 1964,
eighteen large bronzes were placed in the
Jardins du Carrousel, Paris, which are still on
display today.
Jeune Fille Assise se Voilant Les Yeux 1900, terracotta, Kroller-Muller Museum
BOWMAN SCULPTURE
6 Duke Street St James’s, London SW1Y 6BN
Tel. +44 (0) 207 930 0277
[email protected]
www.bowmansculpture.com