PIERRE JEAN DE MARIA 1896/1984

OIL ON CANVAS SIGNED DATEE68. 81X65CM

In 1964, the discovery of Pierre De Maria by IRIS CLER gave new impetus to her career. He was then 68 years old. This Greek gallery owner specializing in contemporary art notably participated in the emergence of New Realism thanks to her spectacular and media exhibitions. She is enthusiastic about the art of Pierre De Maria. “Visiting his workshop transformed my love at first sight into certainty. Pierre De Maria uses the technique of the Ancients to express the Future. » Following this meeting, an intense collaboration took place and allowed the painter to benefit from the gallery owner's European and international network. In 1966, Connaissance des Arts (n°70) devoted a study to him: “In close-up this month: Pierre De Maria”. Followed in 1967, an article in International Art. The year he turned 73, in 1969, a first retrospective of his work was produced by the city of Nice at the Galerie des Ponchettes. Around sixty paintings are on display. Pierre De Maria's meeting with the artist Hélène Bottet when he was 76 years old marked a new turning point in his art: violence gave way to humor. Machines no longer scare him, he derides them. But they are still at the center of his painting while the mechanical art of the 1920s has long since been abandoned by its initiators. In 1974, Jean Selz devoted a chapter to it: “Machines and Dunes” in his book Le dire et le fait. That same year, he won the President of the Republic’s prize at the Toulon International Art Fair for La Tête éclaire. In 1980, Jean-Roger Soubiran organized a new retrospective of his works at the Mediterranean Center of Contemporary Art in Marseille. More than a hundred paintings are collected. This is his last solo exhibition. Pierre De Maria was then 84 years old. His life was a poetic adventure: he successively took on the roles of student engineer, architect, reporter, writer, dandy, Dom Juan. His most authentic commitment remained of a plastic order, making his art the ideal of a life by freeing it from all doctrine. This secretive, brilliant and cultured man died of old age in 1984.

Ref: JFCPPGBV4M