Max MOREAU (1902-1992). Portrait of a Woman in Evening Dress - Lot 129

Max MOREAU (1902-1992). Portrait of a Woman in Evening Dress, 1952. Oil on canvas signed and dated lower right, studio stamp on back. 92 x 73 cm (restoration) Biography: Max Moreau, born in Soignies, Belgium, on September 2, 1902, and died in Granada, Spain, on September 2, 1992, was a Belgian painter and watercolorist. Max Moreau, son of painter Henri Moreau, was born in Soignies on September 2, 1902. In 1905, the Moreau family moved to Brussels. His father soon took his son with him to the capital's cabarets and theaters. As a teenager, Max Moreau frequented museums, reproducing works by masters such as Velasquez and Frans Hals. He continued to frequent theaters and produced a large number of portraits of artists. In 1920, the family moved to Paris. Naturally, he frequented the Comédie-Française, where he befriended actor Denis d'Inès, and painted over 110 portraits of him in various theatrical roles. In 1923, Max Moreau returned to Brussels, where he completed his military service. His talents as a painter were put to good use by a number of officers, enabling him to perform his military service with little hardship and flexible leave. In 1928, he married Félicie Leclercq, known as Félia. In 1929, he began a long series of trips. At each stop, he frequented theaters and produced works that he increasingly distributed among the local bourgeoisie. From 1929 to 1938, he spent five long periods in Tunisia, during which he discovered the light of the Maghreb, a milestone in his painting. In 1932, he staged one of his plays in Tunis, with the Essor troupe. It was a tragi-comic play, "Tutus", in which he played the lead role. It was a success. In 1933 and 1934, he exhibited at the Salon tunisien during his visits. In 1943, he exhibited two portraits of doctors and illustrations for the poem "L'Apothicaire lyrique" at the Salon d'Hiver in Paris. In 1946, he lived for a time in Nice, before the couple settled in Marrakech, Morocco, in 1947. There, they met General Juin and his wife, painter Jacques Majorelle and the colonial bourgeoisie. In 1950, they moved to Paris, and in March 1951, Max Moreau exhibited his major works from Morocco at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris. In June 1954, Max Moreau sent ten paintings to the Salon de l'Armée, none of which dealt with a military subject, apart from the portraits of General Juin, now Marshal, and his wife. In October 1954, the painter left alone to try his luck in New York, coached by Mrs. Doane. After winning a number of commissions for gentry portraits, his wife joined him in early February 1955. From 1956 to 1960, he returned to the United States four times, mainly to Palm Beach, where his portraits of the jet set brought him a lot of money. In October 1960, he exhibited at the Wildenstein Gallery in New York. In 1965, Max Moreau bought the abandoned Carmen (1) de los Geranios in Granada's Albayzin district, where he settled permanently in 1966 after restoration work. From 1966 to 1981, Max Moreau held nine solo exhibitions in Spain, mainly in Granada, and four solo exhibitions in Belgium. From 1982 onwards, Parkinson's disease increasingly and permanently diminished the painter's faculties, and he never exhibited again. Max Moreau died in Granada on September 2, 1992. His wife died on December 8, 1994, and by testamentary execution, the entire estate of the Moreau couple fell to the city of Granada, which transformed the carmen into the "Casa Museo Max Moreau", with free admission. Much of the studio collection is on display here, and the painter's studio has been entirely preserved. Max Moreau exhibited in every country he visited, and very often in Brussels. He painted many portraits, including of the ex-king of Italy, a Rockefeller daughter, Jules Romains and numerous artists from theater, cinema and opera: Pierre Dac, Noël Roquevert, Gino Cervi, Anthony Quinn, Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Madeleine Ozeray, Mylène Demongeot, Tito Gobbi, Graziella Sciutti, Pierre Nougaro... 1- typical patio house in Granada's Albayzin district