Woman with crab before 1913

Aristide Maillol’s bronze sculpture, Woman with Crab, shows a squatting female figure rendered in the round. The way the light glances off the curves of this bronze sculpture tells me so much about how Maillol worked with his material. See how the surfaces aren’t perfectly smooth but have a kind of lumpy, tactile quality? It's like Maillol wanted to retain the evidence of his touch. Look closely at the base where she is squatting, and you can see the imprints of his hands and the tools he used to shape the clay. It’s not so much about hiding the work, but about showing it, embracing the physicality of the process. Maybe it's just me, but I feel a kinship with someone like Maillol, working away in his studio, coaxing forms out of the earth and finding his own way of seeing the world. Just like Degas who I feel had an important influence.