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RUSTIQUE

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A late work by French-Polish artist Maurice Blond (Lodz, 1899 – Clamart, 1974), executed in 1974. The painting presents a dreamlike vision of the artist's studio, depicting a fantastical creature wielding brush and palette before a still life of fruits upon a table. The enigmatic subject is enveloped by sweeping abstract waves and scrolls set against a black ground, creating a composition that bridges figuration and abstraction.


The work employs a distinctive palette of dusty purple and light brown, punctuated by richer accents of red, yellow and green. Blond's expressive brushwork animates the flowing scrolls and background, while finer strokes articulate the palette and the creature's teeth, adding figurative detail to the broader gestural forms. The composition is further animated by pattern—from the undulating scrolls to the zigzag of teeth and the geometric divisions of the palette.


While Blond’s early works encompassed streetscapes, still lifes and portraits, his later output increasingly focused on the quiet elements of studio life: fruits on tables, chairs, and the painter's palette itself. This rare and compelling work synthesises these familiar motifs whilst introducing a fantastical element—a creature both playful and enigmatic—revealing everyday artistic practice as both mysterious and imaginative.


Signed upper left and dated on a stretcher bar on the reverse. Newly fitted in a painted tray frame, in the manner of those used by the artist for his later works.


Born in Lodz, Poland, in 1899, Maurice Blond’s early engagement with art drew notice when in 1911 when one of his watercolours was exhibited at the Kiev museum. Studying natural sciences first, he took classes at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts and left for Berlin in 1923 where he met Isaac Mintchine and Kostia Terechkovitch. He arrived in Paris in 1924, settling at the artist’s colony La Cité Falguiere near Montparnasse and becoming friends with Russian artists such as Pinchus Krémegne and Natalia Goncharova. After WWII, he settled in Grenoble and dedicated his time exclusively to painting. Blond exhibited at the Salon des Independents (1926) and Salon des Tuileries (1930), followed by numerous gallery exhibitions in Paris, most notably at Weil (1960), Durand-Ruel (1961) and Kriegel (1971).



  • Framed dimensions: 71 x 87 cm

  • Picture dimensions: 65 x 81 cm

  • Signed 'M. Blond' upper left, dated 1974 on the reverse.

  • The paint layer is stable and in excellent condition. The black background shows areas of canvas texture and corners left unpainted, intrinsic to the artist's direct technique and not indicative of surface damage.

  • Presented in a new painted tray frame, in the style of those used by the artist in the 1960s and 70s. The canvas edges are finished with black tape, replacing earlier tape, consistent with the artwork and frame.

  • Provenance: the artist's family; private collection, France


Free UK delivery on orders over £200. Shipped from Paris via DHL Express (2 working days), with duties and taxes included. Worldwide shipping available.

  • Period: 1974
    • Price: £2,500.00
    • €2,895 Euro
    • $3,347 US Dollar
  • Location: London
    • Dimensions: H: 71cm (27.95in)
    • W: 87cm (34.25in)
    • D: 5cm (1.97in)