17 x 23.5 cm

ISBN 978-3-03942-125-1

French sculptor Aristide Maillol (1861–1944) is sometimes referred to as the “Cézanne of sculpture” as he, like Paul Cézanne in the case of painting, paved the way for abstraction in his artistic field. Maillol began his career as a painter and produced a highly attractive body of work that is far too little known outside France.

This book, published in conjunction with a comprehensive Maillol exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich, asks questions about the foundation of that male gaze at women that Maillol’s art reflects, and how we perceive it today against the background of current gender debates. Franca Candrian’s extraordinary photo essay confronts Maillol’s Vénus au collier with works by modern and contemporary women artists from the Kunsthaus Zürich’s collection. An essay by feminist art historian and curator Catherine McCormack explores the presence of this art—which in most cases depicts female nudes—in contemporary museums. Supplemented by an introduction by Philippe Büttner, curator of Kunsthaus Zürich’s permanent collection, the book thus offers a new, different view of Aristide Maillol and his art.

Christoph Becker has served as director of Kunsthaus Zürich, 2000–22.

Philippe Büttner is a scholar of art history and curator of Kunsthaus Zürich’s permanent collection.

Franca Candrian is a photographer in charge of photography and image archive and permissions at Kunsthaus Zürich.

Catherine McCormack is a writer and freelance curator and also lectures at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and the University of Oxford.

Kunsthaus Zürich is one of Europe’s leading art museums and Switzerland’s largest art institution. Its permanent collection comprises masterpieces ranging from medieval to contemporary art, with a focus on French Impressionism, Postimpressionism, and classical modernism.