André Mare

1885-1932

 

André Mare was one of the founders of the Art-Deco style. Born in Argentan in Normandy in 1885 he attended school with the French painter Fernand Leger. Although he was primarily known as an art-deco designer André Mare was also a painter. In 1906 he exhibited his paintings at the "Salon des Independants." His work incorporated geometric forms and as such was one of the forerunners of cubism. It was at this time that Mare developed his ownpersonal style, incorporating classicism and modernism with rigour and sensitivity, and it was a style that would endure throughout his life as a painter. During the the First World War he was drafted by the army, with Dunoyer de Segonzac and Fernand Léger, to create camouflage for the British artillery.

The Camouflaged 280 Gun , André Mare 1916

 

After the war he founded with Louis Sue "La Companie des Arts Français." He would eventually design with Louis Sue more than 2000 pieces of furniture and home decor objects. As an iterior designer he decorated numerous important buildings including the home of Jean Patou and the French Embassy in Washington DC. He devoted the last few years of his career solely to painting.

 

Abondance, 1919

Sue & Mare, Waetrcolor

Folding Screen "Les Faunes' circa 1920
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.

Sue & Mare, Flower Chandelier, 1924

Haras du pin, oil on canvas, 1924