The sculpture of the French artist Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) is classical in form and spirit but does not imitate ancient art or the academic, Greco-Roman traditions. He was also a painter, printmaker, and tapestry designer.

Aristide Maillol was born on Dec. 8, 1861, in Banyuls-sur-Mer, the son of a ship captain who was also a fisherman and cultivator of vineyards. Maillol, second of four children, was brought up in a region once colonized by the ancient Greeks. His home looked out on the Mediterranean. After attending a local school, he was sent to Perpignan to further his education. He began to draw and to develop an interest in art early in life.

At the age of 21, Maillol became a painting student of Jean Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Dissatisfied, he turned to other teachers, Alexandre Cabanel and Jean Paul...