Maurice Estève

Maurice Estève was a central figure of Tachism, a movement created by a group of European Abstract modern painters who formed during the last years of World War II.

Estève is known for his lyrical, poetic experiments with color and interwoven organic forms, in works evoking a kind of Cubist Fauvism. The self-taught painter was inspired early on while visiting the Louvre in Paris in the 1920s, and in later years by Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist movements. Estève also worked extensively with collage, textile design, and painted large murals.

In 1959 he took part at documenta II in Kassel, and in 1970 he received the Grand Prix National des Arts.

His work has been the subject of several retrospectives in Europe, and he donated a major part of his work to the city of Bourges, France, where the Estève Museum opened in 1987.

Estève, who always tried to escape from the extroverted avant-garde circles in Paris, moved to his small hometown Culan in 1995; he died there in 2001 at 97 years old.