Maxime Maufra (17 May 1861 – 23 May 1918) was a French landscape and marine painter, etcher and lithographer.

Life

Maufra first began painting at 18. He was encouraged to do so by two artists from Nantes such as the brothers Charles Leduc and Alfred Leduc and the landscape painter Charles Le Roux.Patrick Ramade. "Maufra, Maxime." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 1 Jun. 2016Maufra
at Fada However, he did not fully embrace his painting career right away. He remained in the first place a businessman and only painted in his spare time from 1884 to 1890. During this period, Maufra discovered the work of the Impressionists. He also displayed his works at the Paris Salon of 1886. In 1890, Maufra decided to give up business and to become a full-time painter. He left Nantes for Pont-Aven in the Finistère department of Brittany, where he was met

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

and Paul Sérusier. Maufra had his first solo exhibition in Paris in 1894, at Le Barc de Toutteville. He subsequently exhibited with Durand-Ruel, to whom he remained under contract for the rest of his life. Returning from Brittany, Maufra was the first painter to take up residence in the Bateau-Lavoir in

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

, a famous Parisian residence for artists. He returned to Brittany each year, in particular to the Quiberon region. He found inspiration for his art in his travels which took him to the

Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was ...

(1904), the Midi (1912),

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

(1913) and

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

(1914).

Work

Maufra was mainly an artist of landscapes and marine views. In his compositions, Maufra sometimes quoted the pointillist technique of

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedic ...

, and also took from the strong colors and powerful drawing of the

Pont-Aven School Pont-Aven School (; ) encompasses works of art influenced by the Breton town of Pont-Aven and its surroundings. Originally the term applied to works created in the artists' colony at Pont-Aven, which started to emerge in the 1850s and lasted until ...

. Maufra remained an independent artist his whole life through and dedicated his art to recording the beauty of nature. He also explored etching and lithography.

Gallery

File:Maxime-Maufra-The-Port-of-Sauzon-Belle-Isle-en-Mer.jpg, ''The Port of Sauzon-Belle-Isle-en-Mer'' (1910) File:Maxime Maufra, The Loir at Poncé, Sarthe, 1918. Clark Art Institute.tif, ''The Loir at Poncé, Sarthe'', 1918.

Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...

File:341 Maxime Maufra.JPG, ''Yellow dusk on the mudflats, Loctudy'' (1898) File:The Road from Gaud (La Route de Gaud) MET DP838465.jpg, ''The Road from Gaud'', lithograph (1893)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maufra, Maxime 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists 1861 births 1918 deaths People of Montmartre 19th-century French male artists