Maxime Emile Louis Maufra
Les Varechs en fleurs
1900
Oil on canvas. 61 x 73 cm. Framed. Signed and dated 'Maufra 1900' lower left in brown. Titled 'Les Varechs en fleur - Beg-Meil' verso in pencil on upper stretcher bar. - In fine condition with fresh colours.
“Les Varechs en fleurs” – flowering seaweed – was created in the Breton coastal town of Beg Meil, not far from Pont-Aven. Under contract to the Parisian Gallery Durand-Ruel since the late 1890s, Nantes-born Maufra regularly spent the summer months in Brittany. It was the wide bay of Concarneau in particular, with its striking signal house, the “sémaphore” of Beg Meil as point de vue, that enticed him again and again to create atmospheric compositions. The painting offered here was once in the private collection of Paul Durand-Ruel and was never exhibited in his galleries in Paris or New York.
Certificate
We would like to thank Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy, Geneva, for the confirmation and additional information. The work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Maxime Maufra.
With photo-certificate by Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy, Geneva, dated 20 April 2022
Provenance
Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris (1900); Collection Marie-Louise d'Alayer, Paris (1949); Galerie Abels, Cologne; thenceforth family property, Germany