ARISTIDE MAILLOL | Île-de-France

Dina Vierny, Paris 

Jeffrey H. Loria & Co., New York 

Acquired from the above on February 27, 1997

John Rewald, Maillol, Paris, 1939, illustrations of other casts pp. 66-67

Marguette Bouvier, Aristide Maillol, Lausanne, 1945, illustration of another cast n.p.

Judith Cladel, Aristide Maillol, Buenos Aires, 1945, illustration of another cast n.p.

Rolf Linnenkamp, Aristide Maillol, Die grossen Plastiken, Munich, 1960, illustration of another cast p. 81 

Waldemar George, Aristide Maillol, Neuchâtel, 1965, illustrations of another cast pp. 180-81

Denys Chevalier, Maillol, New York, 1970, illustration in color of another cast p. 41

Waldemar George, Maillol, Paris, 1971, illustration of another cast p. 23

Waldemar George, Arisitide Maillol et l'âme de la sculpture, Neuchâtel, 1977, illustrations of another cast pp. 184-85

Michel Bouille, Maillol: la femme toujours recommencée, Paris, 1989, pp. 48 & 54 

Bertrand Lorquin, Maillol aux Tuileries, 1991, Paris, illustrations in color of another cast pp. 31-33

Bertrand Lorquin, Aristide Maillol, London, 1995, illustration in color of another cast p. 91

Linda Konheim Kramer, Aristide Maillol, Pioneer of Modern Sculpture, Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University, New York, 2000, pp. 164-65 & 214-15

This noble image of a woman emerging from the Seine is Maillol's celebrated personification of the Île-de-France. Allegory played an important role in Maillol's oeuvre, and here he has chosen to represent France's capital region with a pose similar to that of the classical Nike of Samothrace in the collection of the Louvre (see fig. 1). In an earlier variant of this sculpture conceived in 1907, the woman is rendered rising from the water, her feet submerged beneath its surface (see fig. 2). The present version, which dates from 1925, portrays the fully emerged figure with one toe broaching the boundary of her base, as if to suggest her limitless potential. Life in the Île-de-France is reliant upon the Seine river and its tributaries, the Marne and Oise, and Maillol's composition beautifully evokes the balance and interdependence of land and water in this region. Maillol's most successful compositions are defined by their idealized rendering of the female body. In his monograph of the artist, Waldemar George noted that the figure here is Maillol's interpretation of a specifically French female body type, with her petite facial features and more athletic constitution than the Mediterranean models that Maillol had sculpted in the past. As the embodiment of the strength and vigor for which this important region is known, Île-de-France is perfectly proportioned and her pose beautifully captures the force of her movement as she rises out of the water. Maillol's idea for this sculpture originated in 1907, and over the course of fifteen years he repeatedly refined his composition to best suit his allegorical theme. The form he arrived at between 1921-25 presents the full female figure and was cast in an edition of six. He also carved a marble version in 1933, now a part of the Musée d'Orsay's collection (see fig. 3).



The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the late Dina Vierny.