Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (1861 – 1944) was a French Catalan sculptor, painter, and printmaker.
At an early age Maillol decided to become a painter, and moved to Paris in 1881 to study art. His early paintings show the influence of his contemporaries Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Paul Gauguin.
Gauguin encouraged his growing interest in decorative art, an interest that led Maillol to take up tapestry design. In 1893 Maillol opened a tapestry workshop in Banyuls, producing works whose high technical and aesthetic quality gained him recognition for renewing this art form in France. He began making small terracotta sculptures in 1895, and within a few years his concentration on sculpture led to the abandonment of his work in tapestry.
Maillol spoke Catalan, wore traditional espadrilles, a sash and a beret or barretina (the traditional Catalan cap), he danced sardanes and he openly proclaimed his Catalan identity: “I consider Catalonia my true homeland”.
Maillol and Dina Vierny - A Model for Maillol
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