Maurice (xxth) I : "what Am I Doing There?"

Maurice (XXth) I : “What am I doing here? », Mixed technique on paper 50 X 65 cm. Peripheral gaps and epidermis. Circa 1970. Clustered around what appears to be a "Beach Bar", countless naked women and a few men, those with brown skin being erect as opposed to the one with white skin (perhaps a self-portrait) which appears to be erect. float above the bodies, accompanied by these strange fish that seem to be recurring in his work, one of them humanized with a scarlet mouth. Ooh La La ! As a friend would say, this one, he was not alone in his head! When we saw this lot on one of the southern unboxes it was split in two and we bought nine while a London gallery stole four from us! Well, it was almost without seeing them and you had to be a little crazy to acquire them while the paper, cooked by oil, was extremely brittle and with peripheral lacks, but the little that we had seen was motivating! On the border between surrealism and Art-Brut, it would not have been disowned by André Breton or Dubuffet. I did not find anything on the Artist, but it is possible that he was interned and that these paintings participated in his therapy… Information welcome! In agreement with the restorer, we had them neutralized, filled in the gaps and doubled Japanese paper in order to be able to handle them, but we chose not to do the repainting. Do not hesitate to ask us for photos or additional information by email or phone. Other photos and many other objects in our stores in Pau and Biarritz and on our website: galerielhoste.com.