The sculptor Maillol and the Mediterranean (1944)
From the article –my own translation– by Joan Teixidor (Olot, 1913 - Barcelona, 1992) published in Destination (14-X-1944) following the death of the sculptor Aristides Maillol (Banyuls de la Marenda, 1861 - 1944). He is one of the artists included in the exhibition The Nabís: from Bonnard to Vuillardwhich can be seen at La Pedrera until June 28. Photo: sculpture Mediterranean, Maillol's, dated 1902-1923 in the Maillol Exhibition Catalogue 1979 (Cultural Work of La Caixa, 1979).
A telegram from New York confirms the indirect news that our friends in Empordà had already gathered about the sudden death of Aristides Maillol. There is no doubt that the great sculptor from Banyuls has passed away, his death closing one of the most decisive chapters in our contemporary art. Maillol died at the age of eighty-three. But in his current work, not the slightest hint of weariness could be seen. His work in progress was so vibrant and thriving that we can understand why the artist was certain of reaching the age of one hundred, a statement that the painter Sunyer recorded from his lips. If we think about his last works, about this marvelous HarmonyLike a magical interlude amidst the indispensable war photos in today's magazines, it's logical to say that in this case, humanly speaking, death has advanced in its task. [...] Rodin and Maillol encapsulate the entire dramatic adventure of modern sculpture. These two names represent the two opposing poles of a violent stylistic struggle. In Rodin, form receives the ecstasy of all Impressionism. A man of the North, he infuses his titanic works with all the force of his extraordinary expressive consciousness; yet he shuns categorical limits, and his sculpture is grafted, through all forms of naturalism, with the romantic dream of musical and poetic meanings. In contrast to Rodin's dramatic struggle to find freer and more indeterminate limits for sculpture, the sculptor Maillol raises the banner of a Mediterranean clarity, friendly to contours. Maillol's reaction swiftly eliminates all post-Rodin excesses. It is no small feat of his work that it constituted the primary influence on all European sculpture of the 20th century. Maillol initiated an integrative movement that was favorably received by the new sensibility. It is the South—we think of Cézanne—in victorious struggle against the North. When the efforts of these last decades are analyzed in detail, it is certain that Maillol's work deserves symbolic value, especially if we consider that, in the case of our sculptor, the effort soon disappears, giving way to the serenity of what is achieved with a full complement of means and intention. Indeed, if Maillol had stopped in his initial reactionary phase, he would not have lacked the glory of a precursor; but he would have, instead, lacked the greater and definitive glory of an artist superior to his time. [...] Maillol offers us in his work the proximity of earth and blood. Faced with these robust, full forms, imbued with an almost animalistic purity and tranquility, with such ardent and certain pulse, it is impossible not to recognize the air and sun of his native Roussillon. The harmony of synthesis is achieved by starting from the immediate and primordial. In this lies the superior strength of his work. [...]
Joan Teixidor, 1944
