History of Art: Nabis - Aristide Maillol

Developments in the 19th Century

SYMBOLISM

in

FRANCE

(Between Romanticism and Expressionism)

Aristide Maillol

(1861- 1944)

b Banyuls-sur-Mer, 8 Oct 1861; d Perpignan, 24 Sept 1944.

French sculptor, painter, designer and illustrator. He began his career as a painter and tapestry designer, but after c. 1900 devoted himself to three-dimensional work, becoming one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. He concentrated almost exclusively on the nude female figure in the round, consciously wishing to strip form of all literary associations and architectural context. Although inspired by the Classical tradition of Greek and Roman sculpture, his figures have all the elemental sensuousness and dignity associated with the Mediterranean peasant.