Rheumatoid Arthritis Support

It was around that time and at the request of Vollard that Maillol attempted to sculpt with Renoir. The old Master, urged on by Vollard, wished to explore sculpting. Handicapped by rheumatoid arthritis, he continued to paint, brushes slipped between his paralysed fingers, protected by narrow bandages. The dealer, who was admiring a medallion the painter had made of his youngest son Claude, took into his head to “find him a pair of hands”. Now Maillol was an accomplished artist, he could only do "Maillol" so... he presented Guino. Vollard, enthusiastic, arranged for him to meet with Renoir in 1913 and hired him at his own expense. An astonishing adventure began then between the young sculptor and the old painter, qualified as miraculous because of the remarkable communion of spirit and sensitivity which developed between the two artists. This collaboration lasted until 1918, in Essoyes first then at the “Collettes”, Renoir's villa in Cagnes-sur-Mer in Provence. This resulted in the creation of an ensemble of pieces considered at the zenith of modern sculpture: the “small Venus”, the “Venus victrix”, the “Judgement of Pâris”, the “Large Washer Woman”... When Renoir died in 1919, the sculptures were publicised and exploited as his alone by Vollard then by Renou.


Adapted from the Wikipedia article Richard Guino, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki