Aristide Maillol & Francisco Goya | Divergent Perceptions

Davidson Galleries is pleased to present Divergent Perceptions, opening Thursday December 5th at our new location. This exhibition features selected works from Modern and Antique artists, Aristide Maillol and Francisco Goya. Ranging across five different series between the two artists, the artworks provide an almost funhouse effect, where every mirror reflects a completely divergent view on people and their plights. Works from Goya’s ‘Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War)’ bear witness to the horrors of war, while Maillol’s ‘Les Géorgiques (from Virgil’s Georgics)’ give an ode to life in the country with pleasant activities like beekeeping. Both Goya and Maillol are widely recognized for their contributions to the printmaking medium and their observations on the human condition. Divergent Perceptions collects some of these complicated thoughts and images to examine the complex people we may all be.

Aristide Maillol, Embrace. Woodcut.

Aristide Maillol (French, 1861–1944) was born in 1861 in a small fishing village in the French Pyrenees. He studied at the École des beaux-arts in Paris beginning in 1885, then in 1889 he became influenced by his contemporary Paul Gauguin who encouraged a more Impressionistic approach. Maillol joined the Nabis group and exhibited with them in 1895 and 1896, then the Salon des Beaux-Arts and the gallery of Ambroise Vollard in Paris. He opened a workshop in his hometown in 1894. Maillol’s eyesight declined significantly in his 30s which influenced his decision to work as a sculptor. He died in 1944 in an automobile accident. Major retrospectives of his work have been shown internationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Guggenheim Museum; Haus der Kunst, Munich; and Kunsthaus Zürich.

Francisco Goya, Tal para qual (Two of a Kind). Etching, aquatint, and drypoint.

Francisco Goya (Spanish, 1746–1828) was born in 1746 in the small town of Fuendetodos, Spain. He began a painting apprenticeship to José Luzán, an undistinguished painter, at the age of 14. Goya participated in art competitions in his youth and traveled to Italy to continue his studies. In 1772, he married Josefa Bayeu, whose brother, Francisco Bayeu, helped him secure a position at the royal tapestry factory where he completed his first cartoons. His career continued to advance when his first group of etchings were published in 1778 and he was elected to the Academia in 1780. Goya became known as a portraitist throughout Madrid society in the early 1780s and then became court painter in 1789. His career is marked by a significant shift in 1792 when a serious illness left him permanently deaf and his work became more focused on social commentary, including the Los Caprichos series, completed in 1799. After witnessing much violence during the Spanish War of Independence, Goya created the famous Los Desastres de la Guerra series, completed from 1810 to 1820 and published in 1863. In 1824, Goya moved to Bordeaux, France where he lived until his death in 1828.