Still life with bouquet of Flowers, 1945, Montparnasse setting, Maurice Delavier 1902-1986

Maurice delavier (1902-1986) Still life with a bouquet of flowers. Signed lower left and dated april 1, 1945. Oil on canvas. H. 65; w. 50cm. Montparnasse frame in carved and patinated wood. H. 90; w. 75cm. A renowned orientalist and flower painter, but also an engraver or photographer, maurice delavier was born in paris on november 9, 1902 in the ninth arrondissement. The child of a florist couple, he continued his studies and exhibited at only 23 years old at the salon des artistes français in 1925. He was taken prisoner during the second world war and executed many sketches depicting life in a stalag. In 1933, he married the photographer alice schmidt and moved to a house near the seine quai saint-michel continuing in parallel with his active life as a painter, a flower business. An intimate scene. Our canvas depicts a bouquet of freshly cut flowers, including irises and hydrangeas, arranged in a basin filled with water. Maurice delavier chose for a moment in his life, thus illustrating his return from picking, placing the basin on a cloth to avoid wetting the mulched seat of the chair and his hat at the top of the backrest. This theme, dear to the artist, is treated many times. We can mention in this respect a still life painted in 1934 and depicting the hat, shoes and binette of the artist thus preparing for its picking, but also, a still life with a bouquet of flowers very close to our composition and painted in 1944. Works in public collections. Still life with bottle and coffee maker, oil, 1944, beauvais, mudo, musée de l'oise, inv003.12.1. Marc vaux fonds, 16 glass plates, paris, centre pompidou. Condition report: Very good condition. Some small gaps in the pictorial layer (see photo), canvas, frame and original.

Ref. : 5EEZURTC