Aristide Maillol
La Rivière (The River)

CultureFrench
Titles
  • La Rivière (The River)
Date1938–1943
MediumBronze, edition 4/6
DimensionsOverall: 43 5/16 × 94 1/2 × 57 1/16 in., 1200lb. (110 × 240 × 145 cm, 544.3kg)
Base (Stone): 10 × 72 7/8 × 29 5/8 in., 4800lb. (25.4 × 185.1 × 75.2 cm, 2177.3kg)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund
Object number2016.153
Current Location
The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
Cullen Foundation Promenade
On view

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Object Type
Description

In 1938, Aristide Maillol embarked on an ambitious commission
which ultimately became "La Rivière
(The River)," his final masterpiece. The
unusual pose arose from the original terms of the commission, which was
intended to honor Henri Barbusse (1873 – 1935), noted author and pacifist. In
keeping with Barbusse’s anti-war sentiment, Maillol initially conceived the
figure as a woman who had been stabbed in the back, falling at the viewer’s
feet, arrested in agony. However, when funds proved to be insufficient to
complete the memorial, Maillol reconceived the figure as a more timeless theme,
the personification of a river.



The model for "La Rivière"
was the artist’s muse, Dina Vierny. Her son Bertrand Lorquin described the
work: “
Monumentality does not
require to be looked up to, but simply to be looked at. This was a radically
new concept of the function of monumental sculpture, for it introduced a new
relationship between the statue and the viewer.”




ProvenanceDina Vierny, Paris; [Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2016.
Exhibition HistorySelected Exhibitions including La Rivière in earlier casts:

Salon d’automne, Paris, 1946

Hommage à Aristide Maillol, Paris: Musée National d'art moderne, 1961

Sculpture from the Collections of Norton Simon, Inc. and the Hunt Industries Museum of Art, Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1968

Treasures in the Virginia Museum, Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1974

Aristide Maillol: 1861 – 1944, New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1975
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Signed with the monogram and numbered 4/6 on the base of the left foot

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Flora, Nude
Aristide Maillol
1910, cast 1960–1965
Bronze, ed. 6/6
81.40
Phryne
Aristide Maillol
1916
Bronze
28.17
provided by lender
Aristide Maillol
1895–1898
Wood engraving on China paper, state II/II, edition of 60
2017.373
Reclining Nude with Drapery
Aristide Maillol
no date
Etching, edition 54/75
39.76
Nude
Aristide Maillol
no date
Etching, edition 52/150
75.5
Quarantania I
Louise Bourgeois
1947–1953
Bronze with bronze base, ed. 4/6
85.214
Nu debout, Marie
Aristide Maillol
c. 1931
Pastel on brown wrapping paper
97.203
To Die Upon a Kiss
Fred Wilson
2011
Murano glass, edition 4/6
2013.94
Untitled
Joel Shapiro
1990
Bronze, edition 4/4
90.487
The Ancient Incident (Kabal American Zephyr)
Robert Rauschenberg
1981/2006–2008
Bronze, edition 2/6
2007.1156.A-.D
Willem de Kooning
1969
Bronze, edition 5/6
2024.598
Bird (Oiseau)
Joan Miró
1968, cast 1981
Bronze, ed. 5/6
2000.540