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Lot Essay
Olivier Lorquin has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Le Cycliste is a rarity in Maillol's predominantly female-based oeuvre, reminiscent instead of the sculptures of Auguste Rodin. Like Donatello's bronze David, the work shocked audiences when it was first exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1909, where even Rodin exclaimed to Maillol "I didn't think you were capable of this" (B. Lorquin, op. cit., p. 64).
The sculpture was commissioned by the great diplomat and art patron, Count Harry Graf Kessler, who was drawn to the sensuality of Maillol's art. Shortly after they met in August 1904, Kessler became Maillol's first patron, commissioning works such as La Méditerranée and Le Désir. A few years later, Kessler met and became infatuated with a seventeen-year-old racing cyclist named Gaston Colin, who is the subject of the present work.
The Count wanted Maillol to chisel a life-size sculpture of the young cyclist as Narcissus, the deathly handsome demigod, but the artist was hesitant and difficult to convince. Nonetheless, by 1907 the Count persuaded Maillol. Upon visiting his studio in Marly to review the finished model on November 23rd of that year, Kessler was thrilled to find that the artist had imparted his cyclist with the feeling of a Greek sculpture (c.f. Kessler's unpublished diary, Marbach). Maillol, on the other hand, was not happy with his depiction of Narcissus. "It is too close to nature; there is no denying it. It is too close to nature!" the artist told Kessler (ibid.). According to Maillol, the features of his creation were not universal enough to embody the Greek hunter and his renowned beauty, so instead he titled the sculpture Le Cycliste.
While Kessler and Maillol's intentions in creating the sculpture differed, both reveled in its celebration of the male form as an image of physical perfection. After great debate, Maillol was permitted to make a very small edition of sand casts for himself given that he recreated the sculpture in wax for Kessler so that he could have a unique, lost-wax bronze cast of his lover and companion—this cast now resides in the Kunstmuseum Basel. The present work is likely the third from an edition of four sand casts, and the only one remaining in private hands. The other three casts are located in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich, and the Museum Folkwang in Essen.
Le Cycliste is a rarity in Maillol's predominantly female-based oeuvre, reminiscent instead of the sculptures of Auguste Rodin. Like Donatello's bronze David, the work shocked audiences when it was first exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1909, where even Rodin exclaimed to Maillol "I didn't think you were capable of this" (B. Lorquin, op. cit., p. 64).
The sculpture was commissioned by the great diplomat and art patron, Count Harry Graf Kessler, who was drawn to the sensuality of Maillol's art. Shortly after they met in August 1904, Kessler became Maillol's first patron, commissioning works such as La Méditerranée and Le Désir. A few years later, Kessler met and became infatuated with a seventeen-year-old racing cyclist named Gaston Colin, who is the subject of the present work.
The Count wanted Maillol to chisel a life-size sculpture of the young cyclist as Narcissus, the deathly handsome demigod, but the artist was hesitant and difficult to convince. Nonetheless, by 1907 the Count persuaded Maillol. Upon visiting his studio in Marly to review the finished model on November 23rd of that year, Kessler was thrilled to find that the artist had imparted his cyclist with the feeling of a Greek sculpture (c.f. Kessler's unpublished diary, Marbach). Maillol, on the other hand, was not happy with his depiction of Narcissus. "It is too close to nature; there is no denying it. It is too close to nature!" the artist told Kessler (ibid.). According to Maillol, the features of his creation were not universal enough to embody the Greek hunter and his renowned beauty, so instead he titled the sculpture Le Cycliste.
While Kessler and Maillol's intentions in creating the sculpture differed, both reveled in its celebration of the male form as an image of physical perfection. After great debate, Maillol was permitted to make a very small edition of sand casts for himself given that he recreated the sculpture in wax for Kessler so that he could have a unique, lost-wax bronze cast of his lover and companion—this cast now resides in the Kunstmuseum Basel. The present work is likely the third from an edition of four sand casts, and the only one remaining in private hands. The other three casts are located in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich, and the Museum Folkwang in Essen.