L'homme et la femme (Adam et Eve)

Art Historical Context

In the National Gallery of Art's Virginia and Ira Jackson Collection,L'homme et la femme (Adam Eve)* (1895) by Arist Maillol captures a timeless biblical narrative through the intimate lens of late 19th-century French art. Maillol, a pioneering renowned for his voluptuous female, began his career as a painter and printmaker, blending Symbolist influences with a focus on the human body. This black lithograph on delicate Japan paper—prized for its absorbency and texture—depicts Adam and Eve in a moment of primal connection, emphasizing line, contour, and sensuality over narrative detail. Created during Paris's fin-de-siècle era, when artists like Maillol explored mythology and scripture amid rapid modernization, the work showcases lithography's versatility. The technique, invented in the late 18th century, allowed Maillol to achieve fluid, expressive marks directly on stone, producing rich tonal variations in a single color. Its monumental simplicity foreshadows his later bronze sculptures, marking an early mastery of form that influenced modern figurative art. A gift in memory of Virginia H. Jackson, this print invites visitors to ponder humanity's origins, bridging classical ideals with emerging modernism in the Department of Modern Prints (CG-E).

About the Artist

Aristide Maillol · 1861–1944

Aristide Maillol (1861–1944) was a French sculptor, painter, and printmaker born in the coastal village of Banyuls-sur-Mer in Roussillon. From a young age, he aspired to be an artist, moving to Paris in 1881 despite living in poverty. He studied at the École des Arts Décoratifs in 1883 and was accepted into the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in 1885, where he trained under the academic masters J...