Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Pierre DE MARIA
Mouvement Spatiale, 1962 - crayon, 80x130 cm., framed.

1962

$5,361.67
£3,976.94
€4,500
CA$7,341.93
A$8,162.82
CHF 4,272.74
MX$100,114.29
NOK 54,402.84
SEK 51,362.73
DKK 34,252.09
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

He was born in Paris, the son of a conversation though open-minded middle-class family. His father runs the family business of optical equipment but he's also a theatre lover, an author and a poet. He gives his son a strict education and the boy will feel closer to his mother. Pierre De Maria will become a honest, straightforward man, uncompromising to himself and the others. He is very particular about his appearance and, as a child of the "Belle époque" takes up to a kind of dandysm. A cousin of his, Jacques Camoreyt (a pupil of Albert Maignan) teaches him how to master pictorial techniques along with the rather academic education in Arts he is going through. From 1907 to 1914 he is a student at the Lycée Condorcet, first graduates in science and languages, then at the Engineering College just before World War 1. The sight of atrocities will leave a deep scar in his memory. He has a miraculous escape from the war and finds a job in the family firm. He soon realizes he hates everything related to engineering and decides to launch on into painting. He works as a scene painter with Ronsin and Laverdet workshop and on stage with "avant-garde" drama companies. In the same time, he shows his work at the "Salon d'Automne" in 1923 an gets a honour prize in the modern painting department. In 1925 he takes up to boxing and creates some polychromatic facades with Djo Bourgeois, then gets into the Art Deco trend as an architect and a decorator. Henri-Pierre Roché, a writer (Jules et Jim) a painter and an art collector close to the cubists has already discovered talents ( Brancusi, Wols…) and takes an in interest in Pierre De Maria. Autoportrait Environ 1960 In 1926 (the "Années Folles "in Paris) Pierre De Maria meets Marcel Duchamp, Brancusi and the surrealist gang he enjoys but never joins. « They were friends and I was curious but I never liked the hint of complaisance I saw in their work. » He then starts some technical research an collages as shown in his first exhibition of "pasted gouaches" in Princess'Murat 's gallery in Paris. (« Fermé la nuit ») « I never thought I'd make money with my paintings. I took to painting as I would have taken holy orders » He works as a journalist for Marianne and Vu magazines (1932-1933) and writes a detailed report about the Maelström in Norway and the soviet Movies. He has the opportunity to meet Eisenstein and Poudovkine in Sovietic Russia and thinks of making a name for himself in the Movie industry. In 1939 Pierre De Maria meets Germaine Pellegrino who becomes his wife a year later. They'll have two sons : Jacques born 1942 and François born 1943. The family settle in Geneva at the end of 1943. During those years he writes an unpublished autobiographical novel («Tir à volonté») as well as a collection of thoughts about various topics such as war. He also writes poems and a play (as his father had done) «Cornelius'death», in a rather humorous manner. « He who conveys the opinion of fools makes certain to get the majority of votes ». In 1944 he is back in Paris, leaving his wife. He'll settle in Nice in 1953 and starts there his mechanical period with the recurrent theme of machinery in his painting. In 1958 he has his second exhibition in Paris (JC de Chaudun's gallery) and shows a series of lino-engravings done after some drawings of his: he then begins being acknowledged by his contemporaries, his fellow-painters and the Parisian artistic circle. Jacques Prévert even dedicated him a poem. («Les Machinoutis») Henri Pierre Roché, Henri-Pieyre de Mandiargues, Yves Taillandier contribute to the catalogue, well received by the press. In the meantime, he has his works exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, the Salon de Mai, and the Salon Comparaison. In 1963, Flemish wood-engraver Frans Masereel, and Professor Gowa, the curator of the Offenbach Fine Arts, both introduce Pierre De Maria successfully in Germany, allowing him to become famous abroad. The Homo Atomicus Exhibition gathers 45 paintings, recounting the artist'progress over the past ten years. He's then nicknamed the «Atomic age Hyperonymus Bosch» ! In 1964, Greek gallery owner Iris Clert finds him out and helps him into a new career. He is then 68. Iris Clert, as a specialist in Contemporary Art has contributed to the coming out of the New Realism movement through her most spectacular and mediatical exhibitions. She takes a fancy to Pierre De Maria 's work : « The visit of his studio turned my love at first sight into a cutainty : he uses the technique from the Ancients to express Future. » Afterwards, both get into intense collaboration so that the painter is allowed to use the gallery owner's european and international net. In 1966, his work's dedicated a research published in Connaissance des Arts Magazine n° 70 : » A foreground study of Pierre De Maria in this month issue ». Later an article in International Art. In 1969 he turns 73 and he can see his first retrospective exhibition in Nice at the Ponchettes Gallery (about 60 paintings). At 76, he meets artist Hélène Bottet, from then on allowing humour to take over violence in his art. Machines don't frighten him anymore, he's now able to mock them even through they remain at the core of his paintings, in spite of the mechanical Art of the Twenties having long ago been left behind by its creators. In 1974, Jean Selz writes a chapter about « machines and sandhills » in his book Le dire et le faire. That very year, he gets the President of the Republic Prize at the International Art Salon in Toulon for the « Burst Head » (La Tête éclatée). In 1980, Jean Roger Soubiran has a new retrospective of his works organized in Marseilles Contemporary Art Centre. He gathers over a hundred paintings. It will be his last personal exhibition : he is 84. He dies in 1984, an old, secret, bright and educated person. His life was a poetical adventure, successively an engineer, an architect, a reporter, a writer, a dandy, a Don Juan. Most of all he devoted himself to making his art the ideal of a life freed of any dogma. He has left about 450 works. They can be seen at the New York NOMA (1968), at the Teheran Museum (1969), at the National contemporary Art foundation in Paris (1968), at the Cannes Museum (1982) and at the Quebec Museum.
  • Creator:
    Pierre DE MARIA (1896 - 1984)
  • Creation Year:
    1962
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 31.5 in (80 cm)Width: 51.19 in (130 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Nice, FR
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU52833356133

More From This Seller

View All
Abstract Composition EQ2, 1962 - crayon, 66x48 cm, framed
By Edmund Quincy
Located in Nice, FR
Fusain on paper, signed lower right.
Category

1960s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon

Abstract Composition HG , 1980 - pastel, 82x122 cm., framed
By Henri Goetz
Located in Nice, FR
pastel on paper, signed lower right. Henri Bernard Goetz (September 29, 1909 – August 12, 1989) was a French American Surrealist painter and engraver. He is known for his artwork, a...
Category

1970s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Pastel

Abstract Composition EQ1, 1962 - crayon, 66x48 cm, framed
By Edmund Quincy
Located in Nice, FR
Fusain on paper, signed lower right
Category

1960s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon

Abstract composition WL2, 1960-65 - oil paint, 49x58 cm, framed
By Leo Wesel
Located in Nice, FR
Oil on canvas, signed lower right.
Category

1960s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Abstract Composition GA5, 1970 - oil paint, 60x40 cm, framed.
By Georges Arnulf
Located in Nice, FR
Oil on canvas, signed lower left. Georges Gaston Arnulf est un peintre et graveur français, né à Monte-Carlo (Monaco) le 23 mars 1921 et mort le 19 novembre 1996 au Thillay.
Category

1970s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Abstract Composition S5, 1963 - oil paint, 82x65 cm
By Gérard Souzay
Located in Nice, FR
Oil on canvas, signed lower left Gérard Souzay (né Gérard Marcel Tisserand le 8 décembre 1918 à Angers, Maine-et-Loire, et mort le 17 août 2004 à Antibe...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

You May Also Like

Abstract Grey Composition - Original Pastel - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Abstract Grey Composition is an original contemporary artwork realized in the 1970s. Original black pastel ontissue paper. Passepartout is included (cm 49.5 x 69). Image Dimension...
Category

1970s Modern Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

1970s Abstract Drawing Graphite on Paper by MILTON WILSON (American 1923-2004)
Located in Torquay, GB
Original abstract drawing, pencil and graphite on artist paper, in colours black and white, by Oregon born artist Milton Wilson. This is part of a selection of 3 works marked Oct 76 ...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Drawings

Materials

Paper

Sutherland Project VII: Cubist Abstract Graphite Drawing with Antique Frame
By David Dew Bruner
Located in Hudson, NY
Figurative abstract cubist style drawing in an antique wood frame, inspired by artwork by Graham Sutherland “Sutherland Project VII” by Hudson Valley artist, David Dew Bruner, made in 2015 23.5 x 11.5 inch graphite on paper drawing in a 27.5 x 15.5 inch antique black stained...
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Graphite

Abstract Composition - Original Pencil and Pen - 1974
Located in Roma, IT
Abstract Composition is an original drawing artwork in pencil and pen realized by an anonymous Italian artist in 1974. Hand-signed and dated in pencil on the lower right. Good cond...
Category

Late 19th Century Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pen, Pencil

Abstract Expressionist Biomorphic Coloured Pencil Drawing.
Located in Cotignac, FR
1980s abstract expressionist biomorphic coloured pencil drawing on paper by Belgian artist André Pierret, signed bottom right. André Pierret was born ...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Carbon Pencil, Color Pencil

Untitled 1 - Expressive Charcoal On Paper Painting, Black White Drawing
By Krzysztof Gliszczyński
Located in Salzburg, AT
The paper of the work is not yellowed, there is a applied yellowed primer under the drawing Krzysztof Gliszczyński is Professor for painting o...
Category

Early 2000s Conceptual Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal