Bouquet Of Flowers By Maurice-henri Gaudefroy

Oil on canvas signed lower right Gaudefroy (for Maurice-Henri Gaudefroy), the forgotten Cuban Cézanniens? Gaudefroy was an artist of landscapes and still lifes, acclaimed in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. He was trained with the greatest of his time at the Colarossi Academy, but especially at the Julian Academy and at the Grande Chaumière where others studied, Henri Matisse or even Fernand Leger.
Among his friends we find big names such as Modigliani, Jean Van Donghen or Henri Laurens. Together, they met avant-garde artists at Van Donghen, meetings in which Picasso and Bracque participated.
From 1926, Gaudefroy exhibited at the Salon des Surindépendants and the Salon des Tuileries where he attracted the attention of many critics such as Christian Zervos or Maurice Raynal. His style is then more abstract and less analytical than the cubist, "It is located in the continuation of Cézannian cubism". His subjects are treated in a fine paste, angularized but never deformed.
In 1931, he organized his first solo exhibition on rue de la Boétie at the Galerie Percier, which was a success since it allowed him to be nominated for the Grand Prix de Peinture.
In the 1960s, under the mandate of André Malraux as Minister of Culture, several of his paintings were acquired by the state. They can be found in the collections of the national center for the plastic arts.
However, Gaudefroy did not like to promote his works and preferred to stay in a more intimate sphere. This is probably why this artist is so little known today despite his undeniable talent.
Bibl.
Delarge, Dictionary of Visual Arts
Modernes et contenporains, Gründ, 2001, page 470.
Hanina Fine Arts, Maurice-Henri Gaudefroy.
Benezit, dictionary of painters, sculptors, engravers.

Old wooden frame and embossed cardboard, golden brown.
Provenance: sale of the workshop.
Dimensions of the canvas, 41x33 cm.
Total dimensions, with frame, 61x53 cm