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MAXENCE, EDGARD (French, 1871-1954) "A Romanesque Church Near Cannes, France." Signed and dated 1926, with inscription, L.L. Inscription: "Hommage très cordial à Monsieur A. Caprame, maire de Cannes." ("Dedicated cordially to Monsieur A. Caprame, mayor of Cannes." Oil on board, 9" x 6½" (sight); 14" x 11" (framed). Price Category: B |
| Maxence is best remembered for his symbolist
work, which drew both acclaim and criticism.
Born in Nantes in 1871, he was a pupil of
Jules-Elle Delaunay and Gustave Moreau at
the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. A painter
of portraits, landscapes, and still lifes,
he is perhaps best known for his pictures
of subjects drawn from the Bible and ancient
legends. Maxence exhibited regularly at the Salon from 1894, and at the Salon de la Rose+Croix between 1895 and 1897. In 1924 he was elected a member of the Institute and made an Officer of the Legion of Honor. His work was often religious or allegorical, ornate and richly colored, drawing upon the techniques of the Pre-Raphaelites, in addition to the Symbolists. His best known work is The Spirit of the Forest, which is often reproduced in books on the Symbolist movement and is held by the Museum of Fine Arts in Nantes. Whereas Symbolism stressed feeling and evocation over definition or fact and emphasized the power of suggestion, Maxence's aesthetic was more concerned with the creation of decorative surface through a deployment of detail. Maxence often enriched the surface of his works with gold or silver foil and mounted them in elaborate frames of his own design. Some of his larger mystical works have commanded very high prices at auction. After his death a quantity of still lifes and delicate landscapes were found hidden away in his studio, similar to the one shown here. These were mounted in a retrospective exhibition and were much admired. He came late to impressionism, but these smaller, more casual sketches may prove to be more pleasing to modern tastes than the elaborate productions of his youth. Provenance: The Cannon Gallery, Petworth, West Sussex, U.K., 2000. Museums: Sydney Art Gallery, New South Wales, Australia National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro Museum of Fine Arts, Nantes Musée d'Orsay, Paris Bordeaux Mulhouse Poitiers Valenciennes References: E. Bénézit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Gravures (Nouvelle Edition, 1976). Robert L. Delevoy, Le Symbolisme (Edition Skira, 1982). Henri Dorra, Symbolist Art Theories: A Critical Anthology (U.Cal.Press: Berkeley). Michael Gibson, Symbolism (Taschen: Köln, London, N.Y., 1999). Philippe Jullian, Dreamers of Decadence: Symbolist Painters of the 1890s. Phillippe Jullian, The Triumph of Art Nouveau: Paris Exhibition 1900 (Phaidon: Paris). Edward Lucie-Smith, Symbolist Art (Thames and Hudson: New York, 1972). Pierre-Louis Mathieu, The Symbolist Generation, 1870-1910 (Skira: New York.). Pierre-Louis Mathieu, Gustave Moreau (Paris: 1995). Arts Council of Britain, French Symbolist Painters: Moreau, Puvis Chavannes, Redon and their Followers (Hayward Gallery, London: 1972). José Pierre, L'Univers Symboliste: Décadence, Symbolisme et Art Nouveau (Somogy: Paris). |
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