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Lot Essay
One of Maillol's most iconic images, Ile-de-France was also one of the artist's longest projects, appearing in various guises and incarnations over a space of fifteen years. The strength of Maillol's vision of this personification was apparent to the artist as it is still to the viewer today. This was one of the only works whose studies Maillol cast during his lifetime, considering them artworks in their own right. This was the case especially in the Torse de l'Ile-de-France, where an early section was cast on its own displaying the quiet, confident power of the striding figure even in the torso version. The finished version of Ile-de-France, cast in 1925, presents this same power and confidence in a more complete version.
Originally conceived in 1910, the work had languished in its limbless state until the 1920s. The initial concept was that of a woman walking through water. This effect was to be achieved by not showing the feet, which would remain 'hidden' in the base. A later marble version without feet was completed in 1933 and is now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. However, in the bronze version, Maillol abandoned the idea.
The idea of water seems to have been a reflection of the sculpture's function as a personalisation of the Ile-de-France region. This area is not an island, and Maillol would never have allowed such a weak pun in his art. However, water is central to the region, which is dominated by the Seine, and by that river's union with its tributaries, the Marne and the Ouse. Indeed, these rivers form and define the Ile-de-France. Likewise, Maillol seems originally to have taken this aspect of the 'personality' of the region and mixed it with a sense of heroism and victory - the posture is reminiscent of a classical Nike. Maillol's art usually explored a more abstract sense of the female sublime, and so this overt interpretation of the region's personality was eschewed for a more discreet personification, giving the Ile-de-France feet.
This new version of the Ile-de-France, finalised in 1925, is much more in keeping with the majority of Maillol's oeuvre. His sculptures explored female perfection and, through that recurring theme, were a celebration of life itself. They are not cold, distant figures, but instead refined, sensuous visions from Nature. Maillol used models for some of his sculpture, but importantly never attempted to capture their likeness - these sitters were mere prompts, helping him find a visual means of translating his love of life.
Ile-de-France is a work in this tradition and appears as a lithe, confident woman - although she is less curvaceous than many of Maillol's other subjects, a concession to the sculpture's role as a personification. The figure retains the refined form of Maillol's work as he tapped into a timeless image of female splendour. Indeed, this sculpture appears more like the ancient Greek works he so admired. Even the more hieratic interpretation of his theme is reminiscent of Greek sculptures 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 - the curves smack of geometric abstraction although they all relate to each other to form this sensuous bronze. 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 Bertrand Lorquin, Maillol, London, 1995, p.111). Nowhere is this sense of timeless grace more evident - or appropriate - than in Ile-de-France.
Originally conceived in 1910, the work had languished in its limbless state until the 1920s. The initial concept was that of a woman walking through water. This effect was to be achieved by not showing the feet, which would remain 'hidden' in the base. A later marble version without feet was completed in 1933 and is now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. However, in the bronze version, Maillol abandoned the idea.
The idea of water seems to have been a reflection of the sculpture's function as a personalisation of the Ile-de-France region. This area is not an island, and Maillol would never have allowed such a weak pun in his art. However, water is central to the region, which is dominated by the Seine, and by that river's union with its tributaries, the Marne and the Ouse. Indeed, these rivers form and define the Ile-de-France. Likewise, Maillol seems originally to have taken this aspect of the 'personality' of the region and mixed it with a sense of heroism and victory - the posture is reminiscent of a classical Nike. Maillol's art usually explored a more abstract sense of the female sublime, and so this overt interpretation of the region's personality was eschewed for a more discreet personification, giving the Ile-de-France feet.
This new version of the Ile-de-France, finalised in 1925, is much more in keeping with the majority of Maillol's oeuvre. His sculptures explored female perfection and, through that recurring theme, were a celebration of life itself. They are not cold, distant figures, but instead refined, sensuous visions from Nature. Maillol used models for some of his sculpture, but importantly never attempted to capture their likeness - these sitters were mere prompts, helping him find a visual means of translating his love of life.
Ile-de-France is a work in this tradition and appears as a lithe, confident woman - although she is less curvaceous than many of Maillol's other subjects, a concession to the sculpture's role as a personification. The figure retains the refined form of Maillol's work as he tapped into a timeless image of female splendour. Indeed, this sculpture appears more like the ancient Greek works he so admired. Even the more hieratic interpretation of his theme is reminiscent of Greek sculptures 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 - the curves smack of geometric abstraction although they all relate to each other to form this sensuous bronze. 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 Bertrand Lorquin, Maillol, London, 1995, p.111). Nowhere is this sense of timeless grace more evident - or appropriate - than in Ile-de-France.