BRIANCHON Maurice
Painter of theater, races, and still lifes, decorator for the Opéra de Paris and esteemed professor for an entire generation, Maurice Brianchon (1899-1979) embodies the elegance of "poetic reality." Galerie 125 offers a selection of his prints, original lithographs, and wood engravings, exemplifying an art of measure and color. Discover the works of Maurice Brianchon above.
Maurice Brianchon, Painter of Poetic Reality
In 1949, writer Gisèle d'Assailly gathered a group of artists in a book under the name "painters of poetic reality," dedicated to sensitive and colorful figuration: Roland Oudot, Raymond Legueult, Jules Cavaillès, André Planson, and several others. Maurice Brianchon stands at the forefront of this group of painters who remained apart from abstraction and academicism.
Training Between Fine Arts and Decorative Arts
Born in Fresnay-sur-Sarthe in 1899, Maurice Brianchon entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1917, then joined the École des Arts Décoratifs the following year. In 1922, he designed costumes with Raymond Legueult for Grisélidis at the Paris Opera, marking the beginning of a long collaboration with the stage. In 1924, the Blumenthal Prize recognized his early achievements. Ten years later, six of his paintings were exhibited at the French pavilion of the Venice Biennale. He married painter Marguerite Louppe, whom he met at the Académie Julian and the Grande Chaumière.
The Master of a Generation
Professor at the École des Arts Décoratifs from 1936, then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1949, Maurice Brianchon trained many painters of the latter half of the century. Among his students were Guy Bardone, André Brasilier, Bernard Cathelin, René Genis, and Paul Guiramand. In 1951, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs dedicated a major retrospective to him, featuring paintings, watercolors, tapestries, drawings, and lithographs. In 1953, he attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as an official artist, creating a series of small paintings.
His favorite subjects, theater and its backstage, racecourses, beaches, and street scenes, gradually gave way to still lifes and landscapes of the Périgord, where he spent long stays in his later years. He died in Paris in 1979.
The Prints of Maurice Brianchon
Brianchon worked extensively on illustrated books. Notably, he created lithographs for Marivaux's Les Fausses Confidences (1959) and Colette's Le Blé en herbe (1970), as well as a wood engraving for La Fontaine's fable Le Vieillard et les trois jeunes hommes (1961). The latter is among the works presented above, alongside the original lithograph À travers nos vignes de Savoie, dated 1952. These intimate format prints beautifully convey the finesse of his drawing and the softness of his palette.
Collectors from Lorraine and Luxembourg, you are also welcome to view these works at the gallery near Metz, by appointment.
Purchase a Work by Maurice Brianchon
Each work in this selection is guaranteed by a gallery certificate and shipped domestically and internationally, with tracking and insurance.