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Lot Essay
Olivier Lorquin has confirmed the authenticity of this sculpture.
Exhibited for the first time in the Salon d'Automne of 1910, Torse de femme (La Jeunesse) resonates with two other major works of the same period, Flore and L'Ile de France, in her proportions as well as in the expression of her direct gaze. In each of these works the model appears as a lithe, confident woman, less curvaceous than many of Maillol's other subjects. Indeed, the stature of the present work is reminiscent of the ancient Greek sculptures he so admired, in which the various deities are sometimes identifiable only through their poses. Nonetheless there is something undeniably modern in the posture and rendering of Maillol's figure. Maillol himself explained that he sought a sculptural manner and form that, possessing the "miracle of harmony between its masses," after eroding for years under the sea like lost ancient statuary would have its true essence revealed (quoted in B. Lorquin, Maillol, London, 1995, p. 111). Nowhere is this sense of timeless grace more evident--or appropriate--than in Torse de femme (La Jeunesse).
Exhibited for the first time in the Salon d'Automne of 1910, Torse de femme (La Jeunesse) resonates with two other major works of the same period, Flore and L'Ile de France, in her proportions as well as in the expression of her direct gaze. In each of these works the model appears as a lithe, confident woman, less curvaceous than many of Maillol's other subjects. Indeed, the stature of the present work is reminiscent of the ancient Greek sculptures he so admired, in which the various deities are sometimes identifiable only through their poses. Nonetheless there is something undeniably modern in the posture and rendering of Maillol's figure. Maillol himself explained that he sought a sculptural manner and form that, possessing the "miracle of harmony between its masses," after eroding for years under the sea like lost ancient statuary would have its true essence revealed (quoted in B. Lorquin, Maillol, London, 1995, p. 111). Nowhere is this sense of timeless grace more evident--or appropriate--than in Torse de femme (La Jeunesse).