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Aristide Maillol: Classical Idealism and Form
An exhibition of fifty-five (55) woodcuts
The Les Georgiques de Virgile Suite
Maillol
grew up at a turning point in art history. Impressionism
was drawing to a close, and soon approaching was the modernism
movement of a new century at the threshold . At the age
of 13, Maillol showed remarkable talent in drawing and an
interest in creating cartoons for textile production. Like
Goya, he spent his first years mainly as a tapestry designer.
Following
an education at Banyuls and Perpignan, which was founded
on the classics and the humanities--on Virgil and Goethe--he
went to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Among
his acquaintances of artist friends was the painter Paul
Gauguin who encouraged him with his work. Maillol's interest
in the printed medium began with lithographs and woodcuts--perhaps
through the influence of Gauguin.
"Maillol's
art is the embodiment of
that spontaneous form
which is intrinsically perfect."
---
Waldemar George
Aristide Maillol
Editions Ides Et Calendes
Maillol's
exquisite woodcuts were inspired by works of antiquity as
well as the people and land of his native town Banyuls-sur-Mer
in Southern France. In 1908 Maillol decided to tour Greece-having
been born in an area of the Mediterranean which was originally
a Greek, then Roman colony.
It
was upon his return that he began to execute a few drawings
for woodcuts based on the classical writings of Virgile.
But, it was not until 1944 that he completed the entire
set of one hundred and three images just prior to his death.
The linear purity of the woodcuts and engravings produced
by Maillol resemble the line drawing of the Greek vase painters.
The Les Georgiques de Virgile suite illustrates a collection
of four didactic poems on agriculture and arboriculture
in the form of songs, telling of the soil, vine growing,
herbs and bees. The songs were written by the Latin poet
Virgile (70-19 B.C.) to stimulate the Roman desire for engaging
more aggressively in the pursuits of agriculture.
