Antoine Mayo (1905-1990) Seated Figure

Antoine MAYO (1905-1990) Seated figure, oil on canvas, 55 x 46 cm, signed lower right.

Mayo, whose real name is Antoine Malliarakis, is a Greek painter of French culture (naturalized French in the last years of his life), born February 15, 1905 in Port-Saïd and died October 1, 1990 in Seine-Port. Friend of Prévert and Desnos, he is generally classified as a surrealist, a movement in which he actively participated without ever officially joining it, and also known for his work as decorator and costume designer on masterpieces such as Les Enfants du paradis, Golden helmet or Hiroshima my love. In 2012, art historian Evelyne Yeatman-Eiffel published the catalog raisonné of his work. From Oct. 19, 2016 to Jan. 16, 2017, two paintings by Mayo are part of the important exhibition "Art and Freedom: Rupture, War and Surrealism in Egypt (1938–1948)" organized at the National Center for Art and Culture Georges-Pompidou, an exhibition which will also be presented at the Tate Gallery.