10th Jun, 2026 12:00
Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026
19
‡ ARISTIDE MAILLOL (FRENCH 1861-1944)
RAMASSEUSE D'HERBES SAUVAGES
stamped with the monogram, bearing the foundry mark 'Alexis Rudier / Fondeur Paris' and numbered 3/6
bronze
height 14.5cm; 5 3/4in
Property from a Private Collection, Surrey
Conceived circa 1930 and probably cast after the artist's death.
Provenance
Sale, Drouot-Richelieu Paris, 7th December 2016, lot 58
Sale, Christie's London, 1 March 2017, lot 526
Purchased at the above sale
Celebrated for his study of the female form, fame came to Maillol when he was on 'the threshold of old age' (Bertrand Lorquin, Maillol, London, 1995, p.101). Like Degas, Maillol took his subjects from daily life represented in the most simple and natural postures to create a harmonious whole. From 1921 to 1935, he combined working on large scale commissions and public monuments with the modelling of small-scale statuettes, such as the present work where a gentle action has been captured with simplified outlines. Maillol’s interest in the simplification of forms was an ideal he shared with his friend Matisse who looked back at Primitive art and the essence of things. 'Both artists have in common a conviction that simplified forms are based on an art of synthesis, and that it takes forty years to reduce a complex figure to a single line'. (Lorquin, p.104)
Sold for £8,000
RAMASSEUSE D'HERBES SAUVAGES
stamped with the monogram, bearing the foundry mark 'Alexis Rudier / Fondeur Paris' and numbered 3/6
bronze
height 14.5cm; 5 3/4in
Property from a Private Collection, Surrey
Conceived circa 1930 and probably cast after the artist's death.
Provenance
Sale, Drouot-Richelieu Paris, 7th December 2016, lot 58
Sale, Christie's London, 1 March 2017, lot 526
Purchased at the above sale
Celebrated for his study of the female form, fame came to Maillol when he was on 'the threshold of old age' (Bertrand Lorquin, Maillol, London, 1995, p.101). Like Degas, Maillol took his subjects from daily life represented in the most simple and natural postures to create a harmonious whole. From 1921 to 1935, he combined working on large scale commissions and public monuments with the modelling of small-scale statuettes, such as the present work where a gentle action has been captured with simplified outlines. Maillol’s interest in the simplification of forms was an ideal he shared with his friend Matisse who looked back at Primitive art and the essence of things. 'Both artists have in common a conviction that simplified forms are based on an art of synthesis, and that it takes forty years to reduce a complex figure to a single line'. (Lorquin, p.104)
Auction: Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026, 10th Jun, 2026
L.S. Lowry’s expansive Figures on a Beach (lot 39) is the lead painting in our June sale that ranges from the Old Masters to Modern British and post-War & Contemporary. Many of the works have been in the same collection for decades; a number have fascinating stories attached.
The first seven lots of Dutch and Flemish Old Masters are from the collection of Paul Wertheimer. Acquired almost hundred years ago, Wertheimer brought the works to England when he fled Germany in 1938. Leading the group are 17th century panels attributed to Moses van Uyttenbroeck and Lucas van Uden, the latter a reduced copy of Rubens’ original in the Royal Collection (lots 1 & 4). Another early panel, a portrait of Cornelisz. Van Beresteyn, is by a follower of Michiel Jansz. van Miereveld (lot 9).
Works by fellow artists and friends Augustus John and Edgar Augustus ‘Loben’ Slade (lots 20-25) feature John’s early portrait of Loben and five works on paper by the lesser known Slade, nephew of the founder of the Slade School of Art, one of which is a watercolour of Jessie McNeill, John’s model, muse and mistress.
Also in the sale are seven works by Australian artists, including Jeffrey Smart, William Blamire Young and Leonard French, all from a private collection in Surrey (lots 30-36), and ten paintings from a Cheshire Collection that features the work of Helen Bradley, Edouard Cortes and Marcel Dyf together with bracing coastal views by Campbell Archibald Mellon (lots 40-48).
A small and fascinating work on paper is by Paul Nash. It captures the view of Harry Rocks off Ballard Down from Nash's flat in Swanage where he was living in the mid-1930s and which he incorporated into his Surrealist work ahead of the major Surrealist exhibition in London of 1936 (lot 27).
Beside the Lowry beach scene, other post-War works include an important early sculpture by James Tower (lot 52), a leading sculptor-ceramicist of his generation. Other post-War abstract works include examples by Frank Avray Wilson, James Hull and Etienne Beothy (lots 50, 51, 55 & 57).
For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44 (0)20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 7th June: 12pm - 4pm
Monday 8th June: 10am - 8pm (Drinks 5 - 8pm)
Tuesday 9th June: 10am - 5pm
