Dedicated to those who lost their lives for the Aeropostale airmail service, the statue before us is L’Air. This sculpture resides in the Jardin du Carrousel. It is a part of the famous Musee du Louvre.
Aristide Maillol, a French sculptor, created L’Air. He was commissioned by the city of Toulouse in 1938. The statue, a nude female figure, was meant to honor those pioneering airmail workers.
Maillol’s muse, Dina Vierny, inspired the sculpture. She was his model for ten years. The version of L’Air here is cast in lead. It was donated to Paris by Vierny.
The statue wasn’t installed in the Tuileries Gardens until 1964. L’Air is one of about six casts from the original. You can find these in museums around the world.
Maillol often depicted nude female forms. Many, like L’Air, have their hair in a bun. He drew inspiration from nature and Greek mythology.
Look closely at the statue’s features. Her face seems subdued, almost like she’s falling. It serves as a reminder of the sculpture’s purpose. It is a memorial to those lost in the Aeropostale airmail service.
The plaque at the base displays key information. It shows Maillol’s birth and death years. It also states the name, Air, and the original work’s start date. “Plomb,” the French word for lead, is also inscribed.
Maillol based L’Air on a terracotta piece from around 1900. This earlier work showed a woman reclining on billowing drapery. It resembled a Greek goddess. The nude female symbolizes beauty, truth, and innocence.
Maillol had previously explored this pose in his paintings of bathers around 1895. He was inspired by Gauguin and Renoir. He also used a figure from his monument to Cézanne.
The art historian John Rewald visited Maillol during the sculpture’s creation. He noted that Maillol rearranged parts of the Cézanne figure. This resulted in an original and beautiful work.
L’Air seems almost weightless. It rests only on its right hip. This piece relates to nature, like Maillol’s other works. These works also represented elements like spring and rivers. The city of Toulouse commissioned the sculpture as a monument. It honored the crew of the hydroplane Croix du Sud. The plane disappeared after takeoff in 1936. It was en route to South America.
Here, in the Jardin du Carrousel, L’Air stands as a tribute. It is a poignant reminder of those who dared to fly. Their pioneering spirit lives on in this beautiful sculpture.