Maurice Green

The Yellow Mandolin

1974

Latvian-born painter Maurice Green has gained a following in recent years among art collectors for his notable still-life paintings, which reflect the influences of Surrealism as well as Cubism. 

Green was born in 1908 and studied with some of Europe’s most prominent art teachers before emigrating to the United States in the late 1920s. He settled in Los Angeles, where he continued his education and exhibited his realist paintings.

Green’s style evolved during the 1930s and 1940s, when he began creating figurative drawings in pen and ink on paper. His drawing Polynesia (1948) features a partially nude woman against a dazzling backdrop that ripples with energy in its arrangement of geometric shapes and graphic patterns.

In later years, Green’s style evolved again, and in the 1970s, his work consisted primarily of Cubist oil paintings on canvas, featuring bold, vivid colors. Many of his paintings from this era — such as Interlude (1974) and Sailboats (1980) — are still-lifes featuring stringed instruments like violins, dobros and mandolins, often positioned in front of an open window that looks out onto an inviting seascape or a blue sky. Other paintings of the period such as Elevated Dimensions (1972), Construct (1974) and Ascension (1978) sit firmly within the Cubist tradition and feature interesting arrays of colorful overlapping geometric forms.

Throughout his career and until he died in 1993, Green had numerous solo exhibitions in galleries throughout Southern California. His works are also held in several private art collections.

Find original Maurice Green paintings and drawings on 1stDibs.