RSS Feed
December 1st, 2020 
Awake Goy 
According to official sources “symbolism” was a late nineteenth-century art movement that advocated the expression of an idea over the realistic description of the natural world through the use of metaphorical imagery. This movement made its expression through literature and poetry but also through other disciplines such as music, theatre, and of course, fine art. More a philosophy than an actual style of art, symbolism in painting influenced the contemporary Art Nouveau style and Les Nabis.
Edgard Maxence (also spelled ‘Edgar Maxence’) was a clear example of this artistic philosophy. His art was marked by a subtle mystical symbolism, influenced by the English Pre-Raphaelites.
Some of his paintings in the gallery below might look quite familiar since Maxence made quite a name for himself at some point. Among some of my favourite works of his I can mention Edelweiss, Ethereal, Soul of The Forest, Young Woman with Swans, and Rosa Mística the latter, in spite of being a proverbial religious painting, shows Maxence’s symbolist tendencies at their best.
The biography next is the best source of information that I have found on this particular painter, unfortunately it does not provide any details on Maxence’s death or place of burial (He died in La Bernerie-en-Retz, France, in 1954 according to wikipedia) and its grammar needs just a little bit of improvement. Regardless I hope people here appreciate Edgard Maxence’s art as much as I do. As usual comments will be welcomed.
Biography of Edgard Maxence by Galerie Ary Jan
Edgard Maxence was born in Nantes in 1871 in a family of landowners. Nothing predestined him to become an artist. But his mother, Estelle Boquien, with the cultural environment of Nantes helped him to choose an artistic career. During his schooling at the Externat des Enfants Nantais, he followed the drawing lessons of Abbot Sotta (the first master of Elie Delaunay) who certainly was at the beginning of his artistic vocation.
In 1891, Maxence was a successful candidate at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. He first went to Elie Delaunay’s studio, and after to Gustave Moreau’s. The meeting between Maxence and Moreau was absolutely decisive for the young artist who stayed in his master’s studio until 1896, and remained faithful to his teaching all along his life.
Maxence’s studies at the Fine Arts School were brilliant: in 1893 he obtained the prize of “Premier Logiste” and won the first prize for expression faces in 1894. Despite these prizes, he was eliminated from the first round of the 1895’s Prix de Rome. This failure certainly determined his future artistic way.
When he was a young painter, Maxence distinguished himself by his taste for portraits. Since 1893, he regularly exhibited at the Salon of French Artists and took part at the Salon of Rose-Croix between 1895 and 1897. His paintings were very attached with the Symbolist movement to whom he took his subjects. He was inspired by the Breton legends, ambiguous and dark subjects, dreamy processions. He was simultaneously fed by his Christian traditions and his Celtic influences.
His palette was varied: he used garnet-colored, emerald green, muffled yellow. He also used very varied mediums, either oil, either wax, from time to time both together. The tempera, piece of gold, gouache and charcoal gave a singular appearance to his art works and accentuated the primitive appearance of his mystic scenes, despite of the realistic treatment of the faces.
In 1900, he was awarded with a gold medal at the Word Fair and gained the Legion of Honour. After WWI, he decided to turn towards more lucrative subjects. Then he continued a brilliant career of social portraits painter, creating some still lifes and landscape paintings too. Chevalier of the Legion of honour, he was promoted Officer in 1927; he was elected at the Institut in 1924 in lieu of the painter Fernand Cormon.
The Soul of the Spring perfectly illustrates the main features of Maxence’s art. With an outstandingly symbolic subject, the painting shows the usual bright colors of the painter. The celtic influence emphasizes the mysticism of this work.
Sources: Literary Theory and Criticism website, The Guardian, Galerie Ary Jan, Musée d’Orsay, and wikipedia.
Posted in 
Tags: 
