Aristide MAILLOL (1861-1944)

Lot 3
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Estimation :
15000 - 20000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 21 450EUR
Aristide MAILLOL (1861-1944)
Harmony Model created between 1940 and 1944, cast in 1965 Head in bronze with light brown patina Signed with the monogram " M ". Bears the stamp " CIRE PERDUE C. VALSUANI". Bears the mention " H.C ". H. 25 cm Related work: Aristide Maillol, Harmony, 1943, original plaster, H. 124 cm, Paris, Dina Vierny collection Related literature: Ss. Dir. Ophélie Felrier, Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Aristide Maillol, 1861-1944, la quête de l'harmonie, cat. exp., Paris, Musée d'Orsay, 17 April-21 August 2022, Paris, Gallimard, 2022 ; Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, Nathalie Gallissot, Aristide Maillol, Henri Frère, Joseph-Sébastien Pons : une Arcadie catalane, cat. exp., Céret, Musée d'art moderne, July 2-October 30, 2016, Paris, Somogy éditions d'art, 2016, pp. 91-97. During World War II, Aristide Maillol retired to Banyuls and began work on a sculpture that would mark the end of his life: the full-length portrait of his muse Dina Vierny, who had joined him in February 1940 and had been posing for him for five years. For four years, Maillol worked relentlessly on this work and produced some twenty versions. His work was interrupted in 1941 and again in 1943 by the arrest of Dina Vierny, suspected of helping fugitives cross the Spanish border. When the artist suddenly disappeared in 1944, the work remained unfinished. Only various studies in plaster, a foot without arms, a torso with a head, a head and a mask, have come down to us. The bronze head we are presenting is a cast by Claude Valsuani in 1965. Although the work is entitled Harmony, it is nevertheless the portrait of the young woman who previously embodied The Mountain or The River. During the daily posing sessions, Maillol's intention became clearer: he returned to the figure of the model, Maillol no longer worked from his imagination, he said on this subject: "Now that I have no memory, I can do nothing without the model. He then gathered various inspirations: he relied both on the observation of Dina's body and on his drawings made with Thérèse for the upper and lower parts of the body. The balance and the sinuous "S" attitude are influenced by ancient art and more particularly by the Apollo on the omphalos admired by the sculptor during a trip to Athens in 1908. As for the meditative expression that emanates from the face and the slight smile, we find this same plenitude in the Far Eastern statuary that marked Maillol at the World Fairs of 1889 and 1900. In 1946, as a tribute, two years after Maillol's death, a plaster cast of Harmony, a synthesis of a lifetime of research, was exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. "It is my portrait" said Dina of this sculpture, "and it is her testament". We thank Olivier Lorquin, President of the Dina Vierny Foundation, for having confirmed the authenticity of this work.
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