1893
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of a Young Woman (Profil de jeune fille) is a 1893 by Aristide Maillol, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a girl’s face in sharp black lines on bright yellow paper. Maillol printed this on yellow paper to make the color part of the picture. The bold outlines and flat tone were inspired by Paul Gauguin’s prints, which Maillol saw in Paris in 1889. This is one of only a few copies he made. Look up the technique called *impasto* next—it’s the opposite of these smooth lines.
This work depicting a young woman in profile is one of only a few impressions that Aristide Maillol printed on yellow paper. The sheet’s bright tone became a compositional element, allowing it to complement and contrast with the stark black lines the artist drew with lithographic crayon. Maillol was deeply influenced by an exhibition of prints on the same color of paper by Paul Gauguin at the 1889 Universal Exposition, and he made this work shortly after. The image’s border, heavy outlines, and linear style resemble tapestry, a medium Maillol had also begun to work with at this time.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor, painter, and printmaker.
See the richer artist page
