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.
Standing Bather with Raised Arms
1930
Aristide Maillol (French, 1861-1944)
On View
Details
- Artist Name: Aristide Maillol (French, 1861-1944)
- Title: Standing Bather with Raised Arms
- Date: 1930
- Medium: Marble
- Dimensions: 62-1/2 in. (158.8 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1968.02.S
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
[on loan]
- Fullerton Library, 1968-04 to 1968-07
Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, cat. 410 p. 294
Additional Artwork by Artist
Image reproduction permission may be granted for scholarly or arts related commercial use. All image requests, regardless of their intended purpose, should be submitted via the reproduction request form.
Images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. Additional permission may be required.
Approved requests for the reproduction of an image will receive a contract detailing all fees and conditions of use of the image. Upon receipt of both the signed contract and full payment, the Office of Rights and Reproductions will provide the image. A complimentary copy of the published material must be provided to the Norton Simon Museum.