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Pierre DE MARIA
Homme d'armes, 1968, oil on canvas

1968

About the Item

Pierre DE MARIA (1896-1984) Homme d'armes, 1968 Oil on painting Signed upper left Dated and titled on the back 25 x 20 cm tiny cracks, tiny paint jumps visible on photos ; frame in excellent condition Born in Paris in 1896, Pierre de Maria is a painter with a singular trajectory, free from any doctrine. Fascinated by mechanics, machines and their metal workings, he grew up in a family of industrialists, manufacturers of optical instruments for photography and cinema, established in the Canal Saint-Martin district of Paris. After graduating in engineering, Pierre de Maria enlisted in 1914. The sight of the atrocities of war and its killing machines left a lasting impression on his memory. “I enlisted in 1914 out of a taste for the rare spectacle. It was long and atrocious, but it gave me a love of charred landscapes and fire-breathing monsters of iron and steel”, Pierre de Maria, 1980, interview with Jean-Roger Soubiran, Honorary Professor of Art History at the University of Poitiers. After the First World War, he decided to devote himself to painting. His first job was with the Ronsin et Laverdet decoration studio, which created sets for avant-garde theater companies. He exhibited for the first time at the Salon d'Automne in 1923, where he won an honorary prize in the Modern Painting section. From 1925 onwards, he worked in the studio of architect-decorator Djo Bourgeois (1898-1937), designing furniture for the first floor of the Studium-Louvre at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. At the same time, he frequented the Surrealist group, from which he remained on the bangs. After briefly settling in Geneva with his wife and children, he returned to Paris before settling in Nice in 1953. This marked the beginning of his “machinist” period, with the recurring theme of machines in his paintings. In 1958, his second exhibition in Paris (Galerie J.C de Chaudun) marked the beginning of his recognition by the Parisian art world, the press and collectors (including Henri Roché, Jacques Prévert, André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali). In 1964, the discovery of his pictorial work by the fashionable gallery owner Iris Clert gave a new impetus to his career. “Pierre de Maria uses the technique of the ancients to express the future”, Iris Clert. The 1968 oil on canvas entitled “Homme d'armes” (Man at Arms) we present belongs to this period of critical acclaim. The following year, a first retrospective exhibition was organized by the Museums of Nice at the Galerie des Ponchettes. Pierre de Maria maintains a critical vision of technical progress, which he sometimes derides. He depicts a paradoxical world where the now omnipresent machine coexists with man in a relationship of fascination and fear. His concerns resonate with current debates on the alienation of the machine-robot and artificial intelligence. Main exhibitions Homo Atomicus, Paris, galerie R. Creuse, mars 1962 Atomic-Circus, Paris, galerie Iris Clert, avril 1969 Pierre de Maria, Nice, galerie des Ponchettes, 31 oct. - 27 nov. 1969 Pierre de Maria, figuratif de l’imaginaire, Lyon, galerie Michel Descours, 7 avril - 7 juin 2017 Museums Cannes, Musée des beaux-arts Paris, Centre national des arts plastiques, Fonds national d’art contemporain
  • Creator:
    Pierre DE MARIA (1896 - 1984)
  • Creation Year:
    1968
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 9.85 in (25 cm)Width: 7.88 in (20 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    infimes craquelures, infimes sauts de peintures visibles sur photos Frame in excellent condition.
  • Gallery Location:
    PARIS, FR
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2661215730512

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