Updated 10 April 2025
Currently not on display
Photo by (c) Norihiro Ueno
Currently not on display
Night
| Date | 1902-09 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | bronze |
| Size（cm） | 106 x 57 x 108 |
| Inscriptions | Signed (in monogram) left back top of base: AM; Inscribed lower left back of base: EPREUVE de L'ARTISTE; Foundry mark lower right back of base: Alexis. Rudier. / Fondeur. Paris. |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Category | Sculptures |
| Collection Number | S.1987-0001 |
Night was a monumental work unveiled in 1909 that followed from the large work La Méditerranée which was submitted to the 1905 Salon d'Automne. Night is the most famous, and strongest work from Maillol's early period. Maillol made various study works demonstrating gradual stages for La Méditerranée, but did not make many preparatory works for Night. As the earliest study piece for Night was created in 1902, we know that this work was created concurrently with La Méditerranée. The work's measurements, the symbolic nature of the subject, and the simplification of the human form with its abstraction and monumental form present a link between Night and La Méditerranée. Twelve bronze castings of The Night, including the work in this collection, are known in addition to a plaster model and a stone piece. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 144)
Provenance
Coll. Dina Vierny, Paris; Purchased by the NMWA, 1988.
Exhibition History
- 1961
- Hommage à Aristide Maillol (1861-1944): exposition organisée à l'occasion du centenaire de sa naissance, Musée national d'art moderne、Paris, 23 June 1961 - 2 October 1961, no. 30, pl. no. 13
- 1961
- Aristide Maillol, Der Kunstverein, Hamburg, 27 October 1961 - 7 January 1962, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 15 Feb-15 Mar 62; Frankfurter Kunstverein, 27 Mar-6 May; Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, 19 May-8 Jul; Haus der Kunst München, 20 Jul-7 Oct 62, no. 23, pl. no.17
- 1987
- Paris 1937, l'art indépendant, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, 12 June 1987 - 30 August 1987, cat. no. 110, repr.
Bibliography
- 1990
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. Nos. 21-22 (1986-87), 1990, Takahashi Akiya. New Acquisitions 1986-87. pp. 22-23, Catalogue of the New Acquisitions 1986-87. pp. 182-183, repr.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 144, repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 144, repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 140, col. repr.