The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (289 page)
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Magritte , René
(1898–1967).
Belgian painter, one of the leading figures of the
Surrealist
movement. Apart from three years living in a suburb of Paris (1927–30), his entire career was spent in Brussels, where he lived a life of bourgeois regularity (the bowler-hatted figure who so often features in his work is to some extent a self-portrait). After initially working in a
Cubist
-Futurist style, he turned to Surrealism in 1925 under the influence of de
Chirico
and by the following year had already emerged as a highly individual artist with
The Menaced Assassin
(MOMA, New York), a picture that displays the startling and disturbing juxtapositions of the ordinary, the strange, and the erotic that were to characterize his work for the rest of his life. Apart from a period in the 1940s when he experimented first with pseudo-
Impressionist
brushwork and then with a
Fauve
technique, he worked in a precise, scrupulously banal manner (a reminder of the early days when he made his living designing wallpaper and drawing fashion advertisements) and he always remained true to Surrealism.
Iconographically
he had a repertory of obsessive images that appeared again and again in ordinary but incongruous surroundings. Enormous rocks that float in the air and fishes with human legs are typical leitmotivs. He repeatedly exploited ambiguities concerning real objects and images of them (many of his works feature paintings within paintings), inside and out-of-doors, day and night. He also made Surrealist analogues of a number of famous paintings—for example
David's
Madame Récamier
and
Manet's
The Balcony
, in which he replaced the figures with coffins. For the fertility of his imagery, the unforced spontaneity of his effects, and not least his rare gift of humour, Magritte was one of the very few natural and inspired Surrealist painters. J. T. Soby summed this up felicitously when he wrote: ‘In viewing Magritte's paintings…everything seems proper. And then abruptly the rape of commonsense occurs, usually in broad daylight’ (
René Magritte
, 1965). His work was included in many Surrealist exhibitions, but it was not until he was in his fifties that he began to achieve international success and honours. By the time of his death his work had had a profound influence on
Pop art
and it has subsequently been widely imitated in advertising.
Belgian painter, one of the leading figures of the
Surrealist
movement. Apart from three years living in a suburb of Paris (1927–30), his entire career was spent in Brussels, where he lived a life of bourgeois regularity (the bowler-hatted figure who so often features in his work is to some extent a self-portrait). After initially working in a
Cubist
-Futurist style, he turned to Surrealism in 1925 under the influence of de
Chirico
and by the following year had already emerged as a highly individual artist with
The Menaced Assassin
(MOMA, New York), a picture that displays the startling and disturbing juxtapositions of the ordinary, the strange, and the erotic that were to characterize his work for the rest of his life. Apart from a period in the 1940s when he experimented first with pseudo-
Impressionist
brushwork and then with a
Fauve
technique, he worked in a precise, scrupulously banal manner (a reminder of the early days when he made his living designing wallpaper and drawing fashion advertisements) and he always remained true to Surrealism.
Iconographically
he had a repertory of obsessive images that appeared again and again in ordinary but incongruous surroundings. Enormous rocks that float in the air and fishes with human legs are typical leitmotivs. He repeatedly exploited ambiguities concerning real objects and images of them (many of his works feature paintings within paintings), inside and out-of-doors, day and night. He also made Surrealist analogues of a number of famous paintings—for example
David's
Madame Récamier
and
Manet's
The Balcony
, in which he replaced the figures with coffins. For the fertility of his imagery, the unforced spontaneity of his effects, and not least his rare gift of humour, Magritte was one of the very few natural and inspired Surrealist painters. J. T. Soby summed this up felicitously when he wrote: ‘In viewing Magritte's paintings…everything seems proper. And then abruptly the rape of commonsense occurs, usually in broad daylight’ (
René Magritte
, 1965). His work was included in many Surrealist exhibitions, but it was not until he was in his fifties that he began to achieve international success and honours. By the time of his death his work had had a profound influence on
Pop art
and it has subsequently been widely imitated in advertising.
mahlstick
.
.
Mahon , Sir Denis
(1910– ).
British art historian and collector. A private scholar with private means, he has devoted himself single-mindedly to the study of 17th-cent. Italian (particularly Bolognese) painting, and has not only built up a choice collection in this field, but also played a greater part than anyone else in the rehabilitation of such once-scorned artists as the
Carracci
,
Guercino
, and
Reni
. His publications include
Studies in Seicento Art and Theory
(1947), a brilliant pioneering work, and catalogues of Carracci drawings (1956) and Guercino paintings (1968) and drawings (1969) for major exhibitions of their work held in Bologna. He is also regarded as a leading
Poussin
scholar.
British art historian and collector. A private scholar with private means, he has devoted himself single-mindedly to the study of 17th-cent. Italian (particularly Bolognese) painting, and has not only built up a choice collection in this field, but also played a greater part than anyone else in the rehabilitation of such once-scorned artists as the
Carracci
,
Guercino
, and
Reni
. His publications include
Studies in Seicento Art and Theory
(1947), a brilliant pioneering work, and catalogues of Carracci drawings (1956) and Guercino paintings (1968) and drawings (1969) for major exhibitions of their work held in Bologna. He is also regarded as a leading
Poussin
scholar.
Maiano , Benedetto da
.
.
Maillol , Aristide
(1861–1944).
French sculptor, painter, graphic artist, and tapestry designer. His early career was spent mainly as a tapestry designer, but he also painted, exhibiting with the
Nabis
. Although he first made sculpture in 1895, it was only in 1900 that he decided to devote himself to it after serious eyestrain made him give up tapestry. In 1902 he had his first one-man exhibition, which drew praise from
Rodin
; in 1905 came his first conspicuous public success at the
Salon d'Automne
; and after about 1910 he was internationally famous and received a constant flow of commissions. With only a few exceptions, he restricted himself to the female nude, expressing his whole philosophy of form through this medium. Commissioned in 1905 to make a monument to the revolutionary Louis-Auguste Blanqui, and asked by the committee what form he proposed to give it, he replied: ‘Eh! une femme nue.’ More than any artist before him he brought to conscious realization the concept of sculpture in the round as an independent art form stripped of literary associations and architectural context, and he ranks as the most distinguished figure of the transition from Rodin to the moderns. He rejected Rodin's emotionalism and animated surfaces, however; instead, Maillol's weighty figures, often shown in repose, are solemn and broadly modelled, with simple poses and gestures. His work consciously continued the classical tradition of Greek and Roman sculpture (Maillol visited Greece in 1908), but at the same time has a quality of healthy sensuousness (his peasant wife sometimes modelled for him). Maillol took up painting again in 1939 when he returned to his birthplace, Banyuls, but apart from his sculpture the most important works of his maturity are his book illustrations, which helped reestablish the art of the book in the 1920s and 1930s. His finest achievements in this field are the woodcut illustrations (which he cut himself) for an edition of Virgil's
Eclogues
(begun 1912 but not published until 1926), which show superb economy of line. Maillol's work is in many important collections of modern art.
French sculptor, painter, graphic artist, and tapestry designer. His early career was spent mainly as a tapestry designer, but he also painted, exhibiting with the
Nabis
. Although he first made sculpture in 1895, it was only in 1900 that he decided to devote himself to it after serious eyestrain made him give up tapestry. In 1902 he had his first one-man exhibition, which drew praise from
Rodin
; in 1905 came his first conspicuous public success at the
Salon d'Automne
; and after about 1910 he was internationally famous and received a constant flow of commissions. With only a few exceptions, he restricted himself to the female nude, expressing his whole philosophy of form through this medium. Commissioned in 1905 to make a monument to the revolutionary Louis-Auguste Blanqui, and asked by the committee what form he proposed to give it, he replied: ‘Eh! une femme nue.’ More than any artist before him he brought to conscious realization the concept of sculpture in the round as an independent art form stripped of literary associations and architectural context, and he ranks as the most distinguished figure of the transition from Rodin to the moderns. He rejected Rodin's emotionalism and animated surfaces, however; instead, Maillol's weighty figures, often shown in repose, are solemn and broadly modelled, with simple poses and gestures. His work consciously continued the classical tradition of Greek and Roman sculpture (Maillol visited Greece in 1908), but at the same time has a quality of healthy sensuousness (his peasant wife sometimes modelled for him). Maillol took up painting again in 1939 when he returned to his birthplace, Banyuls, but apart from his sculpture the most important works of his maturity are his book illustrations, which helped reestablish the art of the book in the 1920s and 1930s. His finest achievements in this field are the woodcut illustrations (which he cut himself) for an edition of Virgil's
Eclogues
(begun 1912 but not published until 1926), which show superb economy of line. Maillol's work is in many important collections of modern art.
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