Painting By Elisée Maclet

Elisée MACLET Élisée Maclet born April 12, 1881 in Lihons (Somme) and died in Paris on August 23, 1962 is a French painter. Painter of Montmartre, his art is close to that of Maurice Utrillo. Mother Élisée Maclet is a laundress, and his father is a gardener. The latter also works as sacristan for the Abbé Deleval. Becoming an assistant gardener and altar boy, Élisée Maclet rubs shoulders with the priest Deleval, a watercolorist in his spare time, who gave him his first box of paint. The story goes that Puvis de Chavannes crossed paths with the abbé and Maclet in the countryside. The master is said to have stopped in front of the child's sketches and suggested that he move on to painting, ready to take him on as a trainee. But his father reportedly refused, arguing that his son was destined to be a gardener and not a painter. Beginnings in Paris In 1906, he left his Picardy home for the first time to join Paris and Montmartre. He stayed at the Hôtel Fleuri, rue de Chartres, and ate dinner nearby at the Beauvais tavern. He made his debut there by modestly painting iron beds at Favart's, rue Saint-Germain, without having the pretensions of young painters eager to gain fame. Then he worked as a decorator at the Moulin Rouge with the support of his friend, the stagehand Girard. He was even introduced to dance so he could serve as a substitute. Maclet would work in many small jobs, testifying to his modest personality, contrasting with many of his fellow painters and friends. At that time, he was the first to paint Montmartre using techniques other than Impressionism, inventing a style that would inspire other painters who would become more famous.