664. ARISTIDE MAILLOL. Resting nude woman seen from behind, Red chalk on brown paper, 26.6 x 39 cm.

ARISTIDE MAILLOL 1861-1944 Resting nude woman seen from behind Monogram signed, "M" in circle. Red chalk on brown paper 26.6 x 39 cm.

A back study of a naked woman seen from behind and a study of a woman with her head against her hand.

PROVENANCE Professor Johan Gottfrid Boon, subsequently inherited within the family.

EXHIBITIONS (Possibly), Stockholm, Blanche's art gallery, Aristide Maillol, Sculptures, drawings, graphics, March-April 1954, no. 61 "Reclining woman seen from the back / 1918" or no. 80 "Resting woman seen from the back / 1928" and/or Stockholm, Blanche's art gallery, Aristide Maillol (1861-1944, Tapestry, sculptures, oil paintings, pastels and drawings, September-October 1947 and/or Stockholm, Galerie Pierre, Aristide Maillol 1866 -1944, October-November 1962 and/or Stockholm, Galerie Pierre, Aristide Maillol 1866-1944, November -December 1967 Interesting to note is that the nude model is wearing shoes, not unlike a ballerina's shoes. This detail does not diminish the woman's nudity, on the contrary, it enhances the sensual impression of the drawing, because the woman's nudity thereby emerges with greater clarity.

The classic ideal of beauty became the norm for Maillol's art. Auguste Renoir was his close friend and spiritual relative and like him, Maillol strove for a pure, plastic beauty with a healthy sensualism as a starting point, without pathetic or expressive features. "I look for the architecture and the volumes" he used to say. "Sculpture is architecture, the balance of mass, a well-balanced composition.". "My sculpture is completely different from Rodin's. He could make an old woman and reproduce all the wrinkled folds of the stomach. I, on the other hand, love health and beauty.”. "I'm looking for beauty and not character. To me, portrait and statue are two very different things. The goal is to find the balance. For my taste, there should be as little movement as possible in sculptures". Roundness, harmony, fullness of form and static equilibrium were essential for Maillol. Maillol lived in a chaotic and torn period with two world wars. His works, all kept in the ancient tradition. In a world of great and rapid changes, these came to function as a kind of respite and a center of stillness.

Maillol's sculptures and drawings came to be of great importance to Henry Moore's development as a sculptor and his choice of motifs.

1. Boon studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Stockholm with an organist degree in 1906. He adopted the name Boon in 1909 along with two of his siblings. Boon moved in 1915 to Stockholm. His further studies took place for, among others, Richard Andersson and Arthur Schnabel. In 1920 he made his debut as a pianist. In 1933, he married the nurse Anna Ester Lovisa Johansson (1894–1972). Boon was 1928–1953 a piano teacher at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and 1949–1954 also piano pedagogy. In 1935, gan published the book Piano Studies. Even after his time at the Academy of Music, he continued as a piano teacher. Several generations of Swedish pianists studied with Boon. Among his students are Eva Engdahl, Gunnar Hallhagen, Nils Kyndel, Käbi Lareteii, Hans Leygraf, Carin Malmlöf-Forssling, Stig Ribbing, Gunno Södersten, Hilda Waldeland, Inger Wikström, Laszlo Beer and Kjell Bækkelund. Boon was awarded the professor's name in 1949. He was elected in 1938 as member no. 621 of the Royal Academy of Music. In 1960 he was awarded the Medal for the Advancement of Tone Art by the same academy and in 1961 the Illis Quorum medal of the eighth size.