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22 MAURICE ESTÈVE 1904-2001 Farfu charpentier, 1978 Signed and dated 'Estève 78' lower left; signed, titled and dated verso Oil on canvas 24 1 / 8 x 19 3 / 4 in, 61 x 50 cm Provenance Annick and Pierre Berès Collection, Paris (acquired directly from the artist) Private Collection, Switzerland Exhibitions Paris, Grand Palais, Estève, 17 October 1986 – 12 January 1987, no.95 Literature Paris, Grand Palais, Estève, 1986, p.195 illus. This vibrant painting is characteristic of Maurice Estève's poetic mature style of abstraction developed after the Second World War. Born in the small rural village of Culan in the Berry region of France, Estève's colourful and expressive aesthetic is firmly rooted in his connection to the natural world and the traditions of his pastoral childhood. Estève's representation of nature became particularly prevalent after he was demobilised from the French army. Having briefly flirted with Surrealism and fig- urative painting during the 1920s, Estève established his reputation at the forefront of the avant-garde abstraction movement during the post-war period. Inspired by his particular tenderness towards the natural landscape, he explained, 'I feel the nature I am part of more intensely in the forms that I invent than in the world I live in'. Farfu Charpentier captures the fascinating relation- ship within Estève's work between spontaneous interlocking forms and vibrant tones. This mosaic of colours was influenced by the theories of Simul- taneous Contrast developed by Sonia and Robert Delaunay, for whom he worked an assistant on the monumental murals for the Railways and Aviation pavilions at the Paris International Exhibitions (1937). Renowned for his slow, methodical process working with several canvases at one time, for Estève each mark possessed an expressive meaning which altered the entire fabric of the image. Estève explained 'when I'm working I never feel at ease and happy as I don't know where I am or where I'm going'. In Farfu Char- pentier Estève allows his methodical arrangement of abstract forms to seem effortless and poetic, as if the result of a biological process.