The Mediterranean (1905)
Harmony (1923)
by Aristide Maillol 1905-1923
In Maillol’s unfinished Harmony (1923) we see “the result of progressive simplification”[i] working over a period of years on the model. Simplification beckons to all of us as we search for truth and beauty.
“What Maillol sought was a perfect harmony, in which passion had no place.”[ii] In other words, Maillol was looking for an experience of the present moment in which afflictive emotions were replaced by the freedom from “passion” which characterizes P-A . In The Mediterranean, response instead of reaction is at the heart of this peaceful, classical figure who rests in repose, beyond the reach of pain and suffering. She is in the world, but not of it.
[i] Bonfante-Warren, Alexandra. The Musée d’Orsay. New York: Metro Books, 2000, page 275.
[ii] Ibid.
_________________________________________________________
Find a much more in-depth discussion in printed books by Roy Charles Henry.
