Edgard Maxence (1871-1954) - Portrait Of Madame Godchaux, 1924

Edgard Maxence (1871-1954)
Portrait Of Madame Godchaux, 1924
Pastel
70 x 54 cm at sight
(97 x 81 cm framed)
Signed and dated lower right, titled on the back.

Pupil of Jules-Élie Delaunay and Gustave Moreau at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, Edgard Maxence exhibited from 1894 at the Salon des artistes français. After various mentions and a gold medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1900, he received a gold medal in 1914. His taste for idealized medieval scenes and their symbolist aesthetic earned him an invitation to exhibit at the Salon de la Rose-Croix from 1895 to 1897. His technique combines a relatively thick and masonry paste with a certain purity of lines. Like Armand Point, he uses tempera (Les Fleurs du lac, 1900) or gold backgrounds which accentuate the primitive aspect of mystical scenes despite the realistic treatment of the faces (Concert d'anges, 1897, Beauvais, departmental museum de l'Oise), but he also uses wax mixed with oil. His success will encourage him to multiply symbolist-inspired portraits and landscapes long after the extinction of this movement. Many of his works are kept today in the greatest museums and in important private collections.