Paul Maze

      Oil on Canvas, signed lower right

      Dimensions: 66 x 76cm

      Price: £6000

About Paul Maze 'The last of the Post Impressionists' 1887 - 1979

Paul Lucien Maze (1887 - 1979).  An Anglo French painter, often known as ‘The last of the Post Impressionists’.  Maze was known for his quintessentially English themes.  During the war he met Churchill and their shared love of painting led to a lifelong friendship.  Maze became Churchill’s artistic mentor, encouraging him to develop his drawing and painting techniques.

Maze served in the First World War and it was here when he met Winston Churchill in the trenches and their shared love of painting led to a lifelong friendship, Maze becoming Churchills artistic mentor encouraging him to develop his drawing and painting techniques. During the war Maze would venture to advanced positions, often beyond the British trenches to produce accurate drawings of enemy positions.  As a result of this dangerous work Maze was unfortunately wounded three times in four years and awarded the distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal by the British.  He later wrote a book 'Frenchman in Khaki' which details his experiences in action and contains a foreword written by his friend Winston Churchill.

It was after WWI that Maze then immersed himself into the Parisian Art Scene his friends included Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard who had a huge impact on Maze  encouraging his use of pastels which later became his favourite medium, it was his talent with pastels which brought him global recognition.

1921 Maze and his wife moved to London where he exhibited in many major art galleries in London, America and Paris.  It was in 1939 that Maze had his first New York exhibition and in the foreword of the catalogue, Winston Churchill wrote:

"His great Knowledge of painting and draughtsmanship have enabled him to perfect this remarkable gift.  With the fewest of strokes, he can create and impression at once true and beautiful.  Here is no toiling seeker after preconceived effects, but a vivid and powerful interpreter to us of the forces and harmony of nature'"

Maze served with the British Home Guard during WWII  and then as a personal Staff Officer to Sir Arthur Harris.  Maze competed in the art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics but did not win a medal.  Later on in life Maze settled in Treyford, West Sussex and it was there in rural West Sussex that he concentrated on painting pastoral Landscapes scenes.

1952 Maze held his first one man exhibition at the Wildenstein Gallery in New York and that same year he went on to record the funeral of His Majesty King George VI.  He was subsequently selected as the official painter of Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation the following year.

Hi died at the age of 92 with a pastel in his hand, overlooking his beloved South Downs in West Sussex in 1979.  In a 1989 speech by Churchills daughter, she said " Maze was a painting companion.  The 'Cher Maitre' as we all came to call this charming man, remained a regular visitior to Chartwell for many years.

Maze's art is often characterized by his ability to capture the fleeting moments of nature and the play of light, his focus on capturing the atmosphere and mood of the scene which he does so brilliantly in this Boat scene.