Standing Bather with Raised Arms

NARRATOR:
Aristide Maillol took up sculpture at the age of 40, after exploring many other media, including printmaking and tapestry. His favorite subject was the female nude, done in a style that hearkens back to Classical antiquity. Maillol carved this figure from several separate blocks of marble. You can see on the bather’s arms where he joined the pieces together. Though he came to sculpture late, Maillol understood the need to appreciate both the limitations and possibilities of the material he was working with:

ARISTIDE MAILLOL (ACTOR):
The sculptor takes a block and obtains from it at first a head or a figure, based on a rough sketch which suffices as a guide. To attack the raw material, gradually to extract a shape out of it following one’s own desire, or sometimes, the inspiration of the material itself: this gives the sculptor great joy.”

NARRATOR:
This bather’s elegant, simple pose, graceful gesture, and cool expression are typical of Maillol’s works before World War II. To see a different side of Maillol, be sure to visit the sculpture garden. There you’ll find large cast lead figures from the late 1930s and early 1940s, made near the end of the artist’s life.