Maurice Siodeau (1916-1944) Prix De Rome 1943 - Eros And Psyche - Cholet

Maurice SIODEAU
(Cholet 1916 – Paris 1944)
“By lightly touching her with his arrow, Eros revives the sleeping Psyche”
Oil on canvas
H. 146 cm; W. 114 cm (Prix de Rome format)
Signed lower right
1943

Exhibition: 1943, Prix de Rome competition of the Academy of Fine Arts

Born in Cholet, Siodeau honed his skills in drawing and caricature, which led to his being noticed by his mentor and employer, Maurice Laurentin, a well-known architect from Cholet. After attending the School of Fine Arts in Angers, where he won all the top prizes in 1935/36, he entered the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in May 1937, introduced by Robert Poughéon. Illness forced him to slow down his rise, which he resumed in 1940 by participating in the various competitions of the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1941, he was accepted into the Prix de Rome competition and two years later received the Jauvin d'Attainville internal prize, dedicated to decorative painting. That same year, 1943, the subject of the Prix de Rome competition was a scene of tenderness depicting Psyche's sleep and Eros reviving her with his arrow. He participated in this competition, the first since 1939 and the outbreak of the world war. It was won jointly by Trévédy and Trémois and would be Siodeau's last. He died in February 1944 at only 27 years old in the 14th arrondissement of Paris following an accident. Maurice Siodeau had a daughter whom he would never know, as she was born in July 1944. Mauricette, born in Neuilly, died at 33 in the 14th arrondissement, like her father, barely five years her senior. In 1949, his remains, initially buried in the Bagneux cemetery, were transferred to Cholet to join the family vault where his younger brother had already rested since 1934.

Our large canvas is therefore the only one by the artist who participated in the largest French art competition that still bears his stamps, positioned on the canvas strips on the back of the stretcher. The composition, playing with shades of seafoam green and red, blends the two figures in a languid pose.