Lot 29 : l Aristide Maillol 1861-1944 L'AIR (PREMIER ETAT) Signed Aristide Maillol, inscribed with the found...
Auction Location: United States of America - 2001
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Description:
l Aristide Maillol 1861-1944 L'AIR (PREMIER ETAT) Signed Aristide Maillol, inscribed with the foundry mark E Godard Fondeur, Paris and numbered 2/6 Lead Length: 94 1/2in. 240cm. Conceived in 1938 and cast after 1944. Provenance Estate of the artist Private Collection, U.S.A. Acquired from the above by the present owner Literature John Rewald, Maillol, London, 1939, pp. 24-25, illustration of the plaster cast of the second version pp. 86-87 Waldemar George and Dina Vierny, Aristide Maillol, London, 1965, illustration of a plaster study and stone version in course of execution p. 203 Denys Chevalier, Maillol, New York, 1978, listed p. 77 Waldemar George, Maillol, Paris, 1971, illustration of the second version pp. 48-49 Aristide Maillol: 1861-1944, (exhibition catalogue), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1975, illustration of the second version p. 96 Maillol, (exhibition catalogue), Musee Hyacinthe-Rigaud, Perpignan, 1979, illustration of the second version p. 95 Bertrand Lorquin, Maillol aux Tuileries, Paris, 1991, illustrations of the second version pp. 48-49, 50-51 Bertrand Lorquin, Maillol, London, 1995, illustration of the second version p. 141 During 1937-38, Maillol completed several monumental works intended for public display. The present work was commissioned by the city of Toulouse in 1937 in commemoration of pilots killed in the line of duty while flying for France's first airmail service, L'Aeropostale. The project was proposed by the famous French pilot, Jean Mermoz, who met the artist at Marly-le Roi. After agreeing to complete the project, the artist moved to the Hotel Miramar, situated next to the warehouse where he would first model the figure in plaster and then carve the stone version. The present work is the first version of the sculpture which features the figure's hand extended outward rather than bent upwards as in the second version. John Rewald visited Maillol in his studio while he was working on this monument and gave the following account about the production of this work: 'In fact when making casts of some of his small statuettes, Maillol often has two or three copies made; keeping one in its original form he will cut off the arms and legs of the others and try other attitudes until he realizes a new figure. He has followed the same process in preparing his most recent work, Air, destined as a monument to airmen killed in the course of their service. When he was commissioned to make this large figure ten feet high the artist remembered a study dating from 1900 barely 4 inches high, representing a young girl lying at full length carried away as it were by a whirlwind and abandoning her supple limbs to the breeze. Inspired by this sketch Aristide Maillol had a large cast of his monument to Cezanne cut to pieces and had the idea of using these elements to constitute a new work. As a result of this change of pose, the serene and calm grace of the Cezanne monument (see fig. 2) acquired a new aerial grace and the figure surrounded by a large piece of flying drapery appears to detach itself from its base and to support itself miraculously in the air, while the gesture of abandonment in the arm appears to allow the winds to carry away this youthful apparition. The new piece of sculpture thus born from an old study and certain elements supplied by a more recent work, seems even more beautiful than the original statue. But it would be a mistake to think that such a transformation can be accomplished mechanically; on the contrary, as soon as the large study for Air had been sent to Banyuls, where it was to be carried out in stone, the artist went over the whole work, considering that it did not appear sufficiently vigorous in the southern light' (John Rewald, Maillol, London, 1939, pp. 24-25). Working in isolation and unconcerned with recent stylistic developments in sculpture, Maillol created some of his most memorable works in the monumental public sculptures of his last years. In L'Air, Maillol succeeded in maintaining the delicacy and grace of his original concept in the massive forms of his reclining figure. The defiance of gravity of the model, balanced on her right hip, is emphasized by the choice of lead rather than bronze for the casts of the work that were executed after the installation of the stone version. Of his masterpiece, Maillol remarked, 'What I am looking for is the volume in air. The statue in atmosphere, in light and air. Clearly I'm obliged to search for the larger form. I'm not interested in modelling a figure accurately from nature' (Bertrand Lorquin, Maillol, London, 1995, p. 143). Dina Vierny has confirmed this authenticity of this work.
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