Torse de L'Ile de France (Torso of Ile de France)

Artist Aristide Maillol (French, 1861 - 1944)

Date1910-1921

MediumBronze

DimensionsOverall: 47 3/4 x 15 1/2 x 20in. (121.3 x 39.4 x 50.8cm)

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Terms

Object number58.5

On View

Not on view

Collections

Sculpture

CopyrightPresumed copyright: the artist or the artist's representative/heir(s) / Licensed by ARS, New York, NY.

Label TextL'Ile de France is comparatively unusual in Maillol's oeuvre in that it shows a figure in motion. Maillol first mentioned his desire to make a figure walking through water in 1907, but he seems to have begun making the work in 1910. The origins of the title are unclear. It has often been said that the figure is a personification of the Ile de France region, the area where the Marne and Oise rivers feed into the Seine, hence the woman who walks in water. However, early references to the work give the title as Woman Who Walks in Water, Bather, and The Parisian. That last title may allude to the slimness of the model, which is unusual in Maillol's oeuvre: he often mentioned his preference for the short, thick-set models he found in his native Catalan area in south-west France. Whatever the case, Maillol was supremely indifferent to titles and often changed them. The title seems to have been chosen in the late 1920s, but even in the 1930s the sculpture was often referred to simply as Bather. Patrick Elliot 2005