19 Facts About Aristide Maillol

Aristide Maillol began his career as a painter and developed an early interest in the decorative arts.

Aristide Maillol became primarily interested in sculpture from his early 40s.

Aristide Maillol's work inspired artists such as Picasso, Henri Matisse and Henry Moore.

Aristide Maillol decided at an early age to become a painter, and moved to Paris in 1881 to study art.

Gauguin encouraged his growing interest in decorative art, an interest that led Aristide Maillol to take up tapestry design.

In 1893 Aristide Maillol opened a tapestry workshop in Banyuls, producing works whose high technical and aesthetic quality gained him recognition for renewing this art form in France.

Aristide Maillol began making small terracotta sculptures in 1895, and within a few years his concentration on sculpture led to the abandonment of his work in tapestry.

In July 1896, Aristide Maillol married Clotilde Narcis, one of his employees at his tapestry workshop.

Aristide Maillol, believing that "art does not lie in the copying of nature", produced a second, less naturalistic version in 1905.

Aristide Maillol served as a juror with Florence Meyer Blumenthal in awarding the Prix Blumenthal a grant awarded to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.

Aristide Maillol illustrated Daphnis and Chloe by Longus and Chansons pour elle by Paul Verlaine.

Aristide Maillol died in Banyuls at the age of eighty-two, in an automobile accident.

Jewish art collectors whose artworks by Aristide Maillol were looted by Nazis include Hugo Simon, Alfred Flechtheim and many others.

Aristide Maillol's work has had a profound and enduring impact on both modern and contemporary art, particularly within the realms of sculpture, the representation of the human body, and the revival of classical forms in the 20th century.

Aristide Maillol's restrained, monumental approach to the female figure influenced numerous artists, sparking discussions about form, abstraction, and the essence of sculpture itself.

Moore admired the way Aristide Maillol's work avoided excessive detail, allowing the essential form of the human body to take precedence.

Kramer remarked that Aristide Maillol's works possess an "elemental calm" and reflect an anti-Romantic sentiment, contrasting sharply with the emotional intensity of Rodin.

Elsen, in his study of Aristide Maillol's work, argued that his influence can be seen in the development of modernist sculpture, particularly through his focus on the essential harmony of form and space, a concept that paved the way for mid-century minimalism.

In more recent decades, Aristide Maillol's sculptures have continued to inspire contemporary artists exploring themes of memory, identity, and the body.