Biography

1930-1944
He receives a commission for the Monument to Claude Debussy in 1930 and works on a project to commemorate the dead of Banyuls. He begins work on a statue that becomes the central figure of the group called Three Nymphs. He visits Kessler in Weimar and travels to Berlin.
Verhaeren's Belle Chair appears in 1931, an illustrated book with woodcuts and lithographs by Maillol.
A large solo exhibition is held in the Brummer Gallery (New York) in 1933 and the Monument to the Dead of Banyuls is shown for the first time. A large retrospective exhibition of the artist is held in the Kunsthalle in Basel in August and September.
Maillol personally installs the lead funeral monument Hoffman's Grave in the cemetery in Basel in 1934 with his son.
The first visit to Banyuls of a public representative, Jean Cassou, takes place. As asked by Georges Huisman, general director of fine arts, he makes the first acquisitions of Maillol's bronzes for the French government. Paris buys a bronze version of Île de France in 1935.

Maillol travels to Barcelona to be beside Josep de Togores at the opening of his exhibition in the Sala Parés in 1935. The two artists struck up a friendship when they met in Banyuls in spring 1921. He takes a trip to Italy accompanied by the sculptor Pimienta in 1936.
He finishes the group of the Three Nymphs in 1937. The large exhibition "Maîtres de l’art indépendant" held in the Petit Palais during the World Fair dedicates three halls to Maillol. He works on The Mountain for the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris.
He is commissioned to make a stone monument for the city of Toulouse, Air ("A tribute to the pioneering crews on the France-South America line"). F. Jourdain receives confirmation from the Henri Barbusse committee to commission a monument from Maillol as a tribute to the writer.

Verlaine's Chansons pour Elle appears in 1939, illustrated by Maillol, who starts drawing for Virgil's Georgics, which are not published until 1950. John Rewald publishes an important work on Maillol, the first book dedicated to the artist in the US.
Maillol studies how to make frescos in Paris and makes a few. He retires to the mountains of Banyuls in 1939, where he goes back to painting.

Debussy, 1930
Bronze, 90,5 x 91 x 51 cm
Alexis Rudier, artist proof
Dina Vierny Collection, Paris