A three-dimensional bronze sculpture of a standing nude woman holding a rolled towel behind herself.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The young woman steps forward with her right foot on the base, her left leg behind her with heel up. She holds her shoulders back; arms are straight at the sides behind her back holding a towel. Her face and chest stick out in a straight posture as her face and neck are turned slightly right, looking forward. Her hair is tied up under a cloth. The sculpture is a deep brown color, but the head is a lighter bronze color.

Gallery Text

Like Renoir in the 1880s, Maillol studiously focused on the female form, reinterpreting the classical tradition of the nude bather in modern terms. He first explored this subject in his paintings, but turned to a more dramatic expression of the theme in his monumental sculptures of the early twentieth century. This bather, meant to be wading in shallow water, is the culmination of fifteen years of work, after which Maillol made only six bronze casts. The title identifies the work as an allegorical representation of the fertile region surrounding Paris, bound by the Seine and its tributaries.

Like Charles Despiau, whose work is also represented in the Wertheim Collection, Maillol enjoyed considerable fame in the United States. Wertheim searched for this sculpture for some time before he finally acquired it in 1949.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1951.82
People
Aristide Maillol, French (Banyuls-sur-Mer, France 1861 - 1944 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France)
Title
Ile-de-France
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1925
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/228826

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1220, European Art, 19th–20th century, Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
167.5 x 44.5 x 58 cm (65 15/16 x 17 1/2 x 22 13/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: incised, top of base, proper rt rear: M [in oval]
  • inscription: proper upper right of base, incised: 3 / 6
  • inscription: side of base, proper right rear, incised: Alexis Rudier. / Fondeur / Paris

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Maurice Wertheim, New York, NY, 1949, Bequest to the Fogg Art Museum, 1951.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest from the Collection of Maurice Wertheim, Class of 1906
Copyright
© Estate of Aristide Maillol, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Accession Year
1951
Object Number
1951.82
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK HAS SIGNIFICANT LOAN RESTRICTIONS BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • A Collector's Exhibition: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Collections of Members of the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Fine Arts., exh. cat., Knoedler & Co. Inc. (New York, NY, 1950), no. 1, repr. as frontispiece
  • The Maurice Wertheim Catalogue: Modern French Art-- Monet to Picasso, exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC, 1960), pp. 74-75, repr.
  • John O'Brian, Degas to Matisse: the Maurice Wertheim Collection, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and Fogg Art Museum (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, 1988), no. 41, pp. 139-141, repr. pp.139,140
  • Elizabeth M. Rudy, "Researching the Wertheim Collection at the Harvard Art Museums", Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals (Summer 2014), Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 301-6

Exhibition History

  • A Collector's Exhibition, M. Knoedler & Co., Newport, 02/06/1950 - 02/25/1950
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection: Modern French Art--Monet to Picasso, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 06/17/1960 - 09/04/1960
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 06/20/1963 - 09/01/1963
  • Manet to Matisse: The Maurice Wertheim Collection, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, 04/09/1985 - 05/25/1985
  • Re-View: S427 Impressionist & Postimpressionist Art, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/02/2008 - 06/18/2011
  • 32Q: 1220 Wertheim, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu