Volume 1, Issue 7, September 2009
|
|
|
|
|
Gallery Information | Artist List | Contact Us
_________________________________________________
|
Dear Friends,
As the long days of summer come to an end and the brisk pace of fall approaches, we at Anderson
Galleries are pleased to present the estate of Georges Maurice Cloud.
For much of his career, this
remarkably adroit mid-century French painter and
designer worked in relative obscurity in his native
Brittany. With his sudden and unexpected death in 1973,
the works passed to his son and have been
exhibited only rarely since that
time.
This selection
of oils, gouaches and drawings from the 1940's and 50's is an impressive body of work
which recalls the post-war
creations of Picasso, Matisse and Leger and yet exuberantly relates the artist's
own vision. Shown at
Anderson Galleries for the first time, this collection offers an unusual glimpse
into
Cloud's creative process and evolution as an artist. Priced between $5,000 and $15,000 they offer
exceptional
value to any collector of this period.
We invite you to enjoy the works of Georges Maurice Cloud in the gallery this month.
Sincerely,
Joyce and Kevin Anderson
|
|
|
|
|
|
____________________________________________
|
|
|
|
 The Sprint, 1948
 Georges Maurice Cloud was born in Escoublac, Brittany, France, on
October 13, 1909. He did his schooling in Escoublac and La Baule, and
attended the Municipal Art School of Saint Nazaire. In the late 1920's,
Cloud enrolled in the Beaux-Arts Academy in Paris, working part-time
for architects as an intern and as a draughtsman, before becoming part
of architect René Crevel's studio in 1927. Inspired by the work and
achievements of artist and architect Le Corbusier, he worked in the
studio until 1931, where he appropriated an illustrative Art Deco
style, which can be seen in many of his figurative drawings and
gouaches of this period. In 1937, he was awarded First Prize at the
Academy for Architecture for his design work. In the 1930's
and early 1940's, he was commissioned to paint frescoes for private
residences as well as commercial buildings (restaurants, bars and
cabarets), including the La Baule Casino and the well-known Hotel de l'Hermitage. He also painted frescoes on ocean liners - l'Ile de
france, Le Paris, Le Liberté, the De Grasse, etc. - and created
billboards for movie theaters in Nantes, St Nazaire and La Baule.
During the 1940's, Cloud worked in
a Cubist vein, owing a debt to Picasso as well as other Cubists, probably
the Puteaux
Group of Jacques Villon, André
Lhote and friends. His drawings from this era are especially indicative of
a Cubist influence, with their multifaceted yet distinctive abstractions of
figures and landscapes.
After WWII, Cloud started his
own company as an interior decorator, working in the La Baule, Saint
Nazaire and Southern Brittany regions. After the war, Cloud
appropriated a kind of geometric abstraction to his style, perhaps
influenced by the later work of Wassily Kandinsky. Cloud's construction paper collages
were created in the same years, revealing a strong interest in
Matisse's contemporary papiers découpés. The Galerie Harmonies in Saint
Nazaire exhibited Cloud's "Papiers Découpés, à la Matisse" in 1955. Cloud's involvement in the Parisian art world was as a member
of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in 1939 and the Surindépendant Movement
from 1940 until 1957. A frequent exhibitor at the Salon, he received much attention from the press and was regularly written
about in both the Parisian and the local Britton press. Peace, 1951
In 1956, Cloud and his family finally moved to Paris. There, he worked as a freelance
decorator and continued more to paint and create his artwork, moved by Paris'
intensely active artistic life and inspired by contemporaries including
Alexander Calder and Jackson Pollock. In the 1960s, he was project manager as
well as the head designer for the advertising and graphics department of a major
paint company, Le Saint. In 1962, the
French Government commissioned Cloud to create a 12x20 foot mosaic mural for a
marketplace in Vitry-Chatillon, which is still partially in existence.
Cloud closely followed the flow
of ever-changing currents of modern art and pursued his artistic interests for
nearly fifty years, until his death in 1973.
|
____________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
