Léda

细节

Aristide Maillol (1861-1944)
Léda
signed with monogram 'M' and inscribed with foundry mark 'M.Alexis Rudier. .Fondeur.Paris.' (on the back)
bronze with dark green patina
Height: 11½ in. (29.2 cm.)
Conceived in 1900; this bronze version cast by 1952

来源

Galerie Dina Vierny, Paris.
Acquired from the above by the family of the present owner, 1981.

出版

J. Rewald, Aristide Maillol, Paris, 1939, pp. 110-111 (another cast illustrated).
W. George, Aristide Maillol, Berlin, 1964, p. 234 (another cast and terracotta version illustrated, p. 137).
W. George, Maillol, London, 1971, p. 56 (another cast illustrated).
W. George, Maillol et l'âme de la sculpture, Neuchâtel, 1977, p. 128, pl. 139 (another cast and terracotta version illustrated, p. 139).
B. Lorquin, Aristide Maillol, Geneva, 1994, p. 53 (another cast illustrated).
U. Berger and J. Zutter, Aristide Maillol, Munich, 1996, no. 42 (another cast illustrated, p. 119).

拍品专文

The subject of this sculpture, Léda, is taken from the fables of ancient Greece. Léda was the wife of Tyndareus, King of Sparta, by whom she bore the mortal children Castor and Clytemnestra. The god Zeus visited her in the form of a swan; as a result of their union she gave birth to Pollux and Helen (later abducted by Paris to Troy), who were both immortal. One may imagine Léda seated near the water's edge as the swan draws close to her; she turns away and holds up her hand as if to ward off the god's affections.

The use of myth, however, is actually a pretext for Maillol's treatment of the nude in this demure pose. Fundamental to Maillol's sculpture was the primacy of form and subject, and in the arrangement of his models he often focused on a gesture, attitude or movement that interested him. In the present sculpture the female model is casually posed, her arm raised and her head slightly turned, imbuing her with a freshness and immediacy in her appeal.